UA Engineering Students to Compete in Concrete Canoe Competition

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Can you cruise in a concrete canoe? Civil engineering students from The University of Alabama will be challenged to do just that as they compete with other schools in the American Society of Civil Engineers Southeastern Regional Conference concrete canoe competition.

Floating concrete? One might think that’s impossible, but UA students have constructed two canoes, a practice canoe and a competition canoe, using a special mixture of concrete. This mixture consists of light weight aggregates, including microscopic glass bubbles, lightweight sand and a soil additive, which are mixed with fly ash, water and Portland cement.

The concrete is applied onto a mold constructed of plywood ribs and insulation board that is covered with shrink wrap. The “pouring” process takes approximately 10 consecutive hours to complete as students must apply concrete to the mold by hand. The concrete canoe team will pour the competition canoe on Friday, Feb. 9, at 2:30 p.m. in UA’s Student Engineering Projects Building.

After the concrete is poured, it must cure for 28 days before the canoe is sanded, stained and taken off the mold. Aesthetics, including the name of the canoe and the university, are added last.

At the ASCE Student Regional Conference, the students will be judged on the presentation of the canoe, appearance, race performance, and a technical paper. The ASCE competition will be held at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn., from March 29-April 1.

This is the first year the concrete canoe team has constructed two canoes: Crimson Tradition I and Crimson Tradition II.

The civil engineering students involved in the concrete canoe project are:

• Sarah Barnes – Tuscaloosa
• Hannah Beatty- Bethany, La.
• Nick Boyd – Tuscaloosa
• T.J. Kelley – Andalusia
• Andy Kennedy – Jasper
• James Hugh Kyzar – Andalusia
• James Marc McGee – Cottondale
• John Mills – Charlotte, N.C.
• Kiran Patel – Athens
• Nadine Scheeff – Doeffngen, Germany
• Chris Sewell – Southside
• Heather Turner – Montgomery
• Austin Williamson – Richmond, Va.

In 1837, The University of Alabama became one of the first five universities in the nation to offer engineering classes. Today, UA’s fully accredited College of Engineering has about 1,900 students and nearly 100 faculty. In the last seven years, students in the College have been named USA Today All-USA College Academic Team members, Goldwater scholars, Hollings scholars and Portz scholars.