The AccuFooting Concrete Forming System changes how footings are formed.

The tough molded plastic

braces eliminate the need for chairs, dobies, cross bracing cleats, and allows the rebar to be the last step
in the forming process. This keeps the rebar from hitting the dirt, which allows for better concrete
adhesion. The braces equally space the form boards while providing bar support.

AccuFooting concrete footing brackets are made from tough molded plastic and are simple to use with no
special tools required for installation. You can easily screed the open top of the concrete footer forms
without any interference from wood or metal cleats, making rebar strip footing faster and more
consistent.

Whether you are a commercial contractor or a seasoned do-it-yourselfer, you will appreciate the
simplicity of AccuFooting. The ridged dimensions of our footing spacers provide faster forming times and
accurate rebar placement, so there’s no need to measure. And if you have to splice lumber, holes on the
inside of each brace allow for easy nailing.

Easy to Use
AccuFooting braces are more than just a rebar hangers…

 Establish form board spacing

 Supports and stabilizes form boards

 Holds rebar vertically and laterally in place

 Code compliant installation

 No cleats or fastening necessary

 Eliminates dobies, wire chairs and wire ties

30%-50% Time Savings
AccuFooting braces enable an efficient one-man forming system.

 Rebar placement is accurate, pre-spaced notches (no wire ties needed).

 Clean open top footing which allows faster concrete placement and screed times.

 Snap wall-lines permanently in wet mud preventing loss of line due to weather and foot traffic.

 No cleat boards are necessary, therefore nothing extra to strip. Just remove the AccuFooting tabs.

SAVE MONEY
AccuFooting saves you money by cutting down on waste and labor costs.

 AccuFooting reduces excessive concrete waste and splatter because you do not need top cleats.

 Saves labor time in forming, pouring and stripping.

 The ridged dimension of the AccuFooting eliminates measurement errors.

 Keeps rebar clean.

 Complete concrete forming system which provides faster forming times and accurate rebar placement.

 Allows management and inspectors peace of mind to know rebar is placed correctly.
Breathe Brick

These days air pollution in some cities is a big problem, and as a result, buildings that help alleviate
that problem are all the rage. In recent years though, designers have started to move beyond
simply reducing a building's emissions and started to work with techniques that actually remove
pollutants from the air, through systems such as Nemesi's "photocatalytic" facade for the Italy
Pavilion at the 2015 Milan Expo which captures and reacts with pollution in the presence of light.
However, in most cases these new technologies have been chemical, only affecting the air that
physically comes into contact with them. What if buildings could take a more active role in pulling
in pollutants from the sky? What if they could work a little more like a vacuum cleaner? This was
exactly the inspiration behind the Breathe Brick developed by Carmen Trudell, an assistant
professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo's school of architecture and founder of Both Landscape and
Architecture.
The Breathe Brick is designed to form a part of a building's regular ventilation system, with a
double-layered facade of the specialist bricks on the outside, complemented by a standard internal
layer providing insulation. At the center of the Breathe Brick's function is cyclone filtration, an idea
borrowed from modern vacuum cleaners, which separates out the heavy pollutant particles from
the air and drops them into a removable hopper at the base of the wall.
The system is composed of two key parts: concrete bricks, and a recycled plastic coupler, which
both helps to align bricks and creates a route from the outside into the brick's hollow center. The
concrete bricks themselves feature a faceted surface which helps to direct airflow into the system,
and a separate cavity for inserting steel structure.
The Breathe Brick can function with both mechanical and passive ventilation systems, as the brick
simply delivers filtered air into the wall plenum; this air can then be delivered to the building
interior through mechanical equipment or through trickle vents driven by passive systems such as
stack ventilation.
In windtunnel tests, the system was found to filter 30% of fine particles (such as airborne
pollutants) and 100% of coarse particles such as dust. As the entire system is relatively inexpensive,
the Trudell posits the Breathe Brick as a way to lower pollution levels in developing countries,
where rapid expansion of industry and less stringent environmental regulations often cause
problems.
PROJECT CREDITS
Project Leader:
Carmen Trudell (Both Landscape and Architecture / Assistant Professor, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo)
Collaborators:
Kateri Knapp, Kyleen Hoover (RPI undergraduate students in Architecture)
Natacha Schnider, Kate Hajash (Cal Poly undergraduate students in Architecture)
Cameron Venancio, Justin Wragg (Cal Poly undergraduate students in Mechanical Engineering)
Jennifer Thompson, Michelle Kolb (Cal Poly undergraduate students in Environmental
Engineering)
Tracy Thatcher, PhD (Cal Poly Environmental Engineering Professor, experimental advisor)
Self-healing of concrete
(Didier Snoeck, Kim Van Tittelboom, Jianyun Wang, Arn Mignon, Joâo
Feiteira, Adelaide Gomes De Araujo, Yusuf Cagatay Ersan, Tim Van
Mullem, Xuejiao Zhu, Puput Risdareni)
Cracks in concrete are a common phenomenon due to the relatively low tensile
strength. Durability of concrete is impaired by these cracks since they provide an
easy path for the transportation of liquids and gasses that potentially contain
harmful substances. If micro-cracks grow and reach the reinforcement, not only
the concrete itself may be attacked, but also the reinforcement will be corroded.
Therefore, it is important to control the crack width and to heal the cracks as
soon as possible. Since the costs involved for maintenance and repair of
concrete structures are usually high, this research focuses on the development of
self-healing concrete. Self-healing of cracks in concrete would contribute to a
longer service life of concrete structures and would make the material not only
more durable but also more sustainable.

Different healing mechanisms are investigated:

(1) Concrete has an autogenous healing capacity as unhydrated cement is

present in the matrix. When water contacts the unhydrated cement, further
hydration occurs. Furthermore, dissolved CO2 reacts with Ca2+ to form
CaCO3 crystals. These two mechanisms, however, may only heal small cracks.
(Kim Van Tittelboom, Didier Snoeck)

Autogenous healing
To enhance the healing mechanism, microfibres are added to the mixture. By
mixing microfibres in the concrete, multiple cracking occurs. So, not one wide
crack, but several small cracks are formed, which close more easily due to
autogenous healing. (Didier Snoeck)

Multiple cracking

(2) Superabsorbent polymers (SAP), or hydrogels, are able to take up a large

amount of fluid (up to 500 times their own weight) and to retain it in their structure
without dissolving. When cracks occur, SAP are exposed to the humid
environment and swell. This swelling reaction partly seals the crack from
intruding potentially harmful substances. After swelling, SAP particles desorb and
provide the fluid to the surrounding matrix for internal curing, further hydration
and the precipitation of CaCO3. In this way, cracks may close completely. (Didier
Snoeck)
Due to the fact that the pH in concrete drops from 12.8 to 9-10 when a crack
occurs, it is useful to investigate pH sensitive hydrogels. These will only swell
when a crack occurs and fresh water penetrates. (Arn Mignon)

Swollen SAP - Partial sealing of cracks by swelling SAP

 (3) Cracks can be healed by using calcium carbonate precipitating micro-
organisms. These organisms are embedded in the concrete matrix after
immobilization on diatomaceous earth in microcapsules or in SAP, and will start
the precipitation of CaCO3 once a crack occurs. Through this process the
bacterial cell will be coated with a layer of calcium carbonate, resulting in crack
filling. (Wang Jianyun)

Bacterial spores

CaCO3 precipitation by bacteria immobilized on diatomaceous earth – PU foam –

silica gel
(4) One of the research programs considers the use of encapsulated polymers in
order to obtain self-healing of concrete cracks. When a crack appears, the
capsules break and the content is released. Due to capillary action, the agent will
flow into the crack. After reaction, the crack faces are bonded together and the
crack is thus healed.
Depending on the required regain in properties, different healing agents have
been encapsulated. In order to reduce the water permeability of cracked
concrete, polyurethane is provided inside the capsules. When strength regain is
a more important issue, methyl methacrylate is encapsulated. For structures
where the aesthetic aspect is important, water repellent agents can be
encapsulated. (Kim Van Tittelboom)
As encapsulation material brittle glass or ceramic tubes have been used.
However, since capsules have to survive the mixing process in concrete,
research is currently focusing on the development of capsules with suitable
properties to survive the mixing process and to release the healing agent when
cracks appear in the hardened matrix. (Kim Van Tittelboom, Adelaide Araujo)

3-point bending test: release of healing agent - Visualization of capsules and

healing agent by tomography

In the case of dynamic cracks in structures under cyclic load (e.g. due to traffic or
temperature variations), encapsulated elastic polymers can be used. While
cracks healed with CaCO3 would reopen upon reloading and new cracks would
form in the case of rigid polymers, elastic polymers should be able to bridge
cracks of increasing width. Thus, for this particular application, strength regain is
not as important as an effective sealing of cracks. Adhesive properties and strain
capacity of elastic polymeric healing agents in service are assessed. (Joâo
Feiteira)
(5) While fly-ash and blast-furnace slag concrete seem to be inferior with regard
to the early age microstructure and strength development, their self-healing
capability can be much higher, precisely because of the low hydration degree of
the slag and fly-ash particles. Upon cracking, the unreacted particles can be
activated again in order to close the crack and to regain water impermeability and
strength. The suitability of different types of alkali-activators (e.g. NaOH, KOH or
silicate solution) has been investigated.

isualization of crack closure by means of optical microscopy

Besides, service life predictions are performed for self-healing concrete based on
the durability in aggressive environments with high sulphate and chloride
concentrations or in the case of carbonation. (Mathias Maes, Philip van den
Heede)
(6) Test procedures for self-healing efficiency (Tim Van Mullem)
Standard procedures are being developed in order to compare the effectiveness
of different self-healing approaches against one another. The aim of these
procedures is to analyse the regain in liquid tightness and mechanical properties.
Another procedure focuses on the durability of self-healing concrete with respect
to carbonation and chloride ingress.
Also a study on the effect of the addition of healing agents on the creep
behaviour of concrete has been initiated.
This project is supported by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of
the Korean Government.
REFERENCES:

https://www.concreteconstruction.net/products/editors-choice-accufooting-concrete-forming-
systems_o

https://accufooting.com/benefits/

https://www.archdaily.com/771767/this-innovative-brick-sucks-pollution-from-the-air-like-a-vacuum-
cleaner

https://www.ugent.be/ea/structural-engineering/en/research/magnel/research/research3/selfhealing