A note from Bryan Smith, US SPEC Technical Director:
A quote I heard during this past Post-Tensioning Institute (PTI) Convention in Scottsdale, Arizona was “Those who show up make the rules” (ASPIRE magazine, William Nickas). In response to this quote, US SPEC participates in the development of standards and specifications with organizations such as ASBI, ASTM, CSI and ICRI to name a few.
As a manufacturer we are constantly presented with various specifications to comply with. We take our ability to meet these specifications very seriously and develop products to meet the most legitimate industry specifications and standards. This may be in the form of A/E specifications or DOT specifications. Regardless of what specifications we are faced with, one aspect generally remains consistent across the board - they are all different! Regional climate considerations are an understandable reason for some of these changes; however, most of the differences in specification requirements are due to lack of industry knowledge beyond each municipality’s governance.
One commendable effort being pursued by the post-tension industry is a joint initiative between state DOTs and the FHWA (U.S. Federal Highway Association). This initiative is taking place in the PTI M-50/ASBI joint task group. Meetings will be held at PTI and ASBI conventions. The objective of this committee is to bring all state DOTs together in an effort to develop a single specification for post-tension grouting for adoption nationwide. The current guide specification produced by PTI (M-55) is constantly improving and serves as a progressively rigid document to use as the foundation for this effort.
TXDOT is the first state DOT we are aware of who is planning to adopt PTI M-55 as their chief PT grouting specification. With more than 53,000 bridges statewide (more than any other state) and more than 600 post-tensioned bridges, it seems fitting they are on board with advancing this effort. What is their reasoning? Life-cycle cost savings!
The more information we share in community through similar experiences the more we can learn from each other and improve our systems, technologies, materials and the overall built environment in which we live and operate.
ASBI: American Segmental Bridge Institute
ASTM: American Society for Testing and Materials
CSI: Construction Specifications Institute
ICRI: International Concrete Repair Institute
