News Detail

ACI Specifications-A New Direction

6/1/2004

I recently received an e-mail from one of our members suggesting that our specifications for structural concrete do not adequately address durability. The timing of this e-mail was relevant given an initiative that the Technical Activities Committee (TAC) has undertaken to expand and coordinate ACI's specifications activities. TAC has a plan to consolidate our specifications under one "master" document so that the specifier can more easily access ACI's guidance. The result would be an ACI specification document that complements the ACI 318 Code.

TAC defines a specification as "an explicit set of requirements to be satisfied by a material, product, system, or service." The late Bryant Mather, ACI President in 1964, wrote:

"The only good specification is that which requires only those things that need to be done to make the concrete suitable for its purpose. A good specification contains no requirements that can be ignored or slighted and omits no requirements that must be met. It is not possible to write such a specification; it is only possible to try to do so."

As usual, Mather's advice was right on target, and TAC's plan will make it easier to approach that good specification.

Currently, we have no fewer than 18 different specification documents either published or in preparation. These cover construction practices such as use of adhesives, cold- and hot-weather concreting, curing, and tolerances-and construction methods such as architectural concrete, prestressed concrete, shotcrete, and tilt-up. Probably the most used is ACI 301, "Specifications for Structural Concrete."

We provide excellent technical content in these documents. The TAC plan will package the content related to structural concrete in a format that is easier to use, and that will minimize potential for duplication, conflicting requirements, and gaps in coverage. A companion electronic product that takes the user through the process of selecting specification provisions is also envisioned. Members of committees currently preparing specifications related to structural concrete will participate in the development of the ACI "master" specification. Other ACI committees would provide input, which is analogous to the expert "feeder" committee concept of ACI 318.

Because we will have specification requirements in one source document, it should be easier to provide consistency and minimize conflicts between our specifications and our Code. A case in point: Subcommittee A of ACI 318 is currently debating whether some provisions in Part 3-Construction Requirements would be better addressed in project specifications. The ACI 318 Code is written for the design professional. Is it really necessary that it provide detailed provisions for mixture proportioning? Or should such requirements be part of the project specifications, which in turn are part of the contract between the owner and the contractor?

The late Chester P. Siess, ACI President in 1974 and former ACI 318 Chair, addressed this issue candidly in a 1998 interview when he commented as follows on U.S. practice:

"The Code is adopted by a city as an ordinance under its police power, which the Constitution has granted to the state and the states have delegated to the cities. The police power is the protection of the public health and safety. The police power was never intended to protect the owner of that building. It should be a life-safety code. It never has been. It's not going to be because people don't want it. A lot of people don't want the responsibility of decisions on their own. They want the Code to do it...."

Needless to say, our code and specification committee members have some meaty issues to consider.

In the discussions leading up to ACI's new direction in specifications, a recurring theme was the lack of quality project specifications being encountered in the marketplace. There is a real opportunity for ACI to help rectify this situation. We need to develop educational programs, electronic products, and possibly even certification activities to help specifiers reach the goal of writing a good specification.

The TAC plan deserves our full support. It will serve as the impetus for other ACI programs that provide knowledge and information for the best use of concrete. As always, your feedback is welcome.

Anthony E. Fiorato, President
American Concrete Institute
fiorato@CTLGroup.com

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