Concrete Canoe's Journey is Underway

By Adam Stegge

It's in your sidewalk, the foundation of your house, in countless buildings, and as of recently in canoes. For many colleges nationwide, including the University of Iowa, the challenge has been presented to them to build a concrete canoe that will out maneuver all others.

Lightweight concrete has been used since WWII. During the Normandy invasion, concrete docks were used for the unloading of heavy equipment. Expanding on this notion, the ASCE and Master Builder's Inc. has sponsored the National Competition for designing and building a superior canoe made of lightweight concrete since the early 1970's. The notion of using concrete as the material in constructing canoes that work may seem unlikely, but makes sense when thought about. Cement has a high density, but is only a portion of a concrete mixture. Adding in what constitutes "filler" allows the teams to produce a lower volume -to- weight ratio.

Concrete is made by mixing aggregate with cement and water, which causes the cement to bind the mass. The aggregate mixed with the cement must be chosen carefully to insure the canoe remains light enough to float, yet strong enough to support a paddler's weight. Hollow ceramics or microscopic glass beads and microballoons, such as Microlite, are added to the cement mixture to create a lighter concrete while recycled cenospheres, such as fly ash, are added to increase the concrete's strength. Materials similar to latex are added to cement to create concrete, which flows easily, and maintains workability for the long periods of time necessary to shape the canoe. Materials such as latex also tend to increase the ductility and ultimate strength of the concrete. The proportions of each material added to the mixture must be carefully considered so the canoe will have a density less than water's 62.4 pounds per cubic foot, yet remain strong and hard enough to support weight.

It is necessary to have a density less than that of water because the first test of the competition is a swamp test. Each canoe is submerged in the water and must have all edges visible if the canoe is to be allowed to race. The additional weight of up to four paddlers will be put upon the canoe. The shape of the canoe plays a critical part in keeping the canoe from sinking and keeping it high enough in the water to result in faster race times.

The competition involves the swamp test, five races, and a more academic portion. The five different race events consist of Men's Distance, Women's Distance, Men's Sprint, Women's Sprint, and a four person Co-Ed Sprint. The races establish 30% of the final score. The other 70% comes from the academic portion. This includes a paper, display, presentation, and final product (how the canoe looks).

The University of Iowa has two new co-chairs this year, civil engineering juniors Mike Wittkop and Sean Danaher. Though this is the first year they are in charge, both have participated in previous years and hope to improve upon last year's results. "Our canoe looked good last year and we want to improve the display", reported Mike Wittkop.

Iowa has a good start on the canoe this year, having already selected its mix and hull design. The name of the canoe this year is THE ARGO, and the theme of the

display is the constellation Argo. Junior Heather Cross is responsible for the theme and display this year. "We chose a space theme because it gives us lots of room to get creative with the display. We chose the Argo specifically because it is the constellation named after the ship piloted by Jason and the Argonauts on their mythical quest for the Golden Fleece".

Heather is hoping to include an area where viewers will see the constellation itself

looking as realistic as possible with the use of florescent paint and lighting tricks. The display and presentation will be connected through the telling of the myth. This idea sounds good and everyone is confident that it will turn out great.

When asked if they had run into any problems, Mike Wittkop said, "Everything has been pretty smooth, except for getting a location to build it". In years past, the concrete canoe team has constructed its canoe at the University of Iowa Oakdale campus in the Hydraulic Research Lab. However, with the acceptance of a new grant, the building of a new model is underway in this building and the concrete canoe team has been without a home. After a diligent search and numerous questions, they have finally landed the use of the storage facility of the Iowa Advanced Technology Labs for temporary construction use this spring.

The other aspect of the concrete canoe team is fundraising. "Trying to get money is one of our on going tasks, but we have had some success in getting donations", stated Mike Wittkop. Most of the materials needed for this team are donated to them, which greatly reduces the financial burden and allows them to experiment with materials which would otherwise be inaccessible.

All aspects of creating a concrete canoe are well underway and should come together this spring when the actual construction takes place. This year's regional competition will be held at Platteville, Wisconsin during April 12th and 13th. The teams competing in this region are the University of Minnesota, N. Dakota State University, Iowa State University, S. Dakota State University, University of Wisconsin-Platteville, and the University of Iowa. Last year's winner was Minnesota by a slim margin.

ASCE expanded its race endeavor to a national level in 1988 when concrete construction industry leader Master Builders Inc. offered to become the sole corporate sponsor of the collegiate event. As the years have gone by, the teams have become more professional and the canoes have improved with the use of new technologies. For instance, the Iowa team uses a software program to design a hull shape with adequate room and minimal drag. This is the same program implemented by the U.S. Navy.

With all the work teams put into their canoe, winners from each of 20 regional competitions, as well as some additional second-place qualifiers, eagerly travel to the National Competition to see which university can come out on top. Iowa would love to be the team to take Minnesota's place and head to the National competition. Hopefully, the Iowa concrete canoe team will be spending a June weekend at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the location for the 2002 National competition.

For more information about concrete canoe at the University of Iowa, visit http://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/~asce/ccanoe.html