Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute announces 2015 PCI Journal awards

Chicago — The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute’s (PCI’s) Journal Awards Committee has named the winners of the 2015 PCI Journal awards.

This year’s Martin P. Korn Award goes to M. Ataur Rahman and Sri Sritharan for their March-April 2015 paper, “Seismic Response of Precast, Posttensioned Concrete Jointed Wall Systems Designed for Low-to-Midrise Buildings Using the Direct Displacement-Based Approach.” This research builds on previous work for post-tensioned shear walls to support an expanded use of prestressed concrete for seismic applications in mid- and low-rise buildings. The Martin P. Korn Award (named in honor of the first executive director of PCI) recognizes the paper that offers the greatest contribution to the advancement of precast and prestressed concrete in the area of design and research.

Christopher M. Vanek, Victor Ryzhikov, Bijan Khaleghi, and Stephen Seguirant received the Robert J. Lyman Award for the January-February 2015 article, “Restoring a Collapsed Span over the Skagit River.” The project highlighted the cost effectiveness and schedule advantages of prestressed concrete to replace a damaged major arterial bridge. The paper illustrated the cooperation among design, construction, and fabrication to achieve exceptional results. The Robert J. Lyman Award goes to the paper that offers the greatest contribution in the area of plant production, site erection, or general construction using precast and prestressed concrete.

“Seismic Design Guidelines for Solid and Perforated Hybrid Precast Concrete Shear Walls” in the Summer 2014 issue won the 2015 Charles C. Zollman Award. This research complements previous efforts to use precast, post-tensioned concrete walls for seismic design by providing clear and direct design guidance. Brian J. Smith and Yahya C. Kurama received the award, which goes to the best state-of-the-art precast and prestressed concrete paper.

The 2015 George D. Nasser Award, which recognizes young authors 40 years of age or younger who write outstanding papers on design, research, production, or construction, went to Samuel D. Keske and D. Eric Miller for the article, “Live-Load Response of In-Service Bridge Constructed with Precast, Prestressed Self-Consolidating Concrete Girders” in the Fall 2014 issue. This full-scale evaluation of in-service bridge girders demonstrated that self-consolidated concrete performed comparably to conventional concrete in bridge girders, thus expanding the potential market and answering concerns about the use of self-consolidating concrete.

Winners will be recognized at the 2015 PCI Fall Committee Days and Membership Conference, Oct. 15-18 in Louisville, Ky.