New CSU Beam Form and Cage Materials

Denver, Colo. (March 3, 2017) – Stresscon Corporation has designed and donated a beam form and cage materials to precast concrete students in Colorado State University’s Concrete Design Program. Students in the CIVE 467 – Reinforced Concrete Design course have access to the precast beam form and cage materials in order to develop an understanding of how reinforcement is arranged inside the form and beam. This gives the students an interactive approach while working as a crew, a tool to help them better understand and interpret variables in design calculations.

Dr. Rebecca Atadero approached her precast industry contact, Greg Black, a retired precast designer, with the form idea. Stresscon was able to develop the idea into a teaching tool for the students. “After some graduate students at CSU participated in the PCI Big Beam contest and I got to watch them trying to tie together a rebar cage, I realized how much undergraduate students might benefit from the experience too”, says Atadero. She has split her class into groups of six students who visit the concrete lab to review beam production drawings, set up the form, and tie the rebar cage for the beam. “I am happy to see the students are asking good questions and seem to be enjoying themselves too”, she says.

The objective of the teaching form is to demonstrate the structural characteristics of the beam and the reinforcement design in a 3-D form for a direct and hands-on approach. The beam form and reinforcing materials were produced at Stresscon’s precast manufacturing plant in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This project highlights Stresscon’s focus on contributing teaching materials to students to increase awareness of precast products and design.

About Stresscon

Stresscon Corporation designs, fabricates, and erects quality structural and architectural precast concrete structures for the construction communities of Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region. Founded in 1967, and a member of the EnCon Companies since 1993, Stresscon is PCI certified and specializes in institutional and commercial applications. To learn more, visit www.Stresscon.com.