Project Information

PCI Big Beam Competition

This is a national competition run by the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) where student teams design and test an 18' prestressed concrete beam.

PCI Big Beam Competition Website PCI Big Beam Competition Rules

Please see the PCI Big Beam Competition Rules for more information on constraints that will affect the NAU team's design choices. Materials and testing methods must meet the designated ASTM numbers as stated within the rules.

The competition will be judged on:

ability to fail within 32 and 40 kips applied service load
ability to not crack until 20 kips.
lowest cost
lowest weight
largest measured deflection at midspan at maximum total applied load
accuracy of predictions
report quality
practicality, innovation, and conformance with code

The team must also consider the following factors:

Ease of moving the beam from the shipment truck and inside the NAU CENE Concrete and Materials Labs
Availability of materials, processes, and schedule for Tpac in manufacturing the bea

PCI Big Beam Competition Rules

The Project Schedule is shown with a Gantt chart, which shows the project tasks and dates, the relationships between the tasks, and the critical path.

The critical path is a set of interdependent tasks that, should any of them be delayed, it would delay the whole project schedule.

Download Gantt Chart

This list contains the task list for the NAU PCI Big Beam team. For a more detailed break down, please see the Proposal in the Documents tab.

Task 1: Prestressed Concrete Education

Task 1.1: Prestressed Concrete Background
- This task involves the team taking a compressed, not-for-credit prestressed concrete class to understand the concepts and calculations necessary to design with prestressed concrete. The team will also create a Mathcad file that will allow the team to iterate more easily and present the calculations in an easy-to-read format.
- Learn more about Mathcad here
Task 1.2: Competition Research
- This task involves the team examining past winners' designs and determining any similarities that work for many load patterns. This will allow the team to be more efficient during the iterative design process.
- Past Winners' information can be found here

Task 2: Concrete Mix Selection

Task 2.1: Concrete Mix Research
- The team's sponsor, Tpac, will be manufacturing the beam and providing the supplies for the beam's completion. This task involves exploring the lightweight and normalweight concrete mixes to determine the mix that will meet the required performance criteria
Task 2.2: Concrete Mix Analysis
- This task consists of evaluating the proportions and performance characteristics of different concrete mixes, such as unit weight, slump, air content, and compressive/tensile strengths at 28 days.
Task 2.3: Final Concrete Mix Selection
- The optimal concrete mix will be chosen based on performance data, compliance with the PCI Big Beam rules, and the ability of industry sponsor Tpac to make the mixture at their batching plant using a decision matrix.

Task 3: Preliminary Beam Design

This task involves iterating the beam's design using the Mathcad file developed in Task 1 until there are 3 designs that consider

Cross Section
Reinforcement
Concrete Mix (lightweight or normal weight)

From the competition rules, the beam must crack after an applied load of 20 kips and fail in flexure between 32 and 40 kips.

Task 4: Final Design

Task 4.1: Design Decision Matrix
- This task involves creating a decision matrix based on the PCI Big Beam Competition rules, weighing all criteria and assigning each component of each design a numerical value.
Task 4.2: Final Design Selection
- This task involves using the decision matrix and selecting the final design that is optimized for the judging criteria.
Task 4.3: Final Design Calculations
- This task involves altering the calculations as necessary to effectively communicate the calculation steps using the final design including making edits, adding diagrams, and adding commentary as necessary.

Task 5: Shop Drawings

Task 5.1: NAU AutoCAD Drawings
- The team will create AutoCAD shop drawings in order to communicate the design to the team's sponsor, Tpac. The key features of these drawings will be:
  - Locations and types of flexural reinforcement
  - Locations, types, and jacking forces of prestressing strands
  - Locations, types, and connection of stirrups to resist shear forces
  - Beam cross section geometry
  - Type of concrete
- Learn more about AutoCAD here
Task 5.2: Coordination with Tpac for Shop Drawings
- Tpac will create in-house shop drawings based on the ones received from the NAU team. A review process will occur with the NAU team in order to verify all information is correct.

Task 6.0: Beam Manufacture

Task 6.1: Test Cylinder Fabrication
- Tpac will provide the NAU team with test cylinders that are made of the same batch of concrete and cured in the same way. These will be used later for testing the concrete tensile and compressive strength to achieve more accurate predictions.
Task 6.2: Beam Fabrication
- Tpac will manufacture the beam for the NAU team. At least one member of the team will be at the Tpac facilities in Phoenix, Arizona in order to observe, take photos, and take videos for the competition video.
Task 6.3: Shipment of Beam
- Tpac will ship the beam from their facilities in Phoenix, Arizona to NAU in Flagstaff, Arizona.
- For more information about the location of these facilities, click here
Task 6.4: Transportation of Beam Inside Lab Facilities
- Once the beam arrives in Flagstaff, Arizona, the team will supervise moving the beam into the CENE Concrete and Materials Lab. The specific materials, methods, and time required to move the beam will depend on the weight of the beam and the availability of Lab Manger, Dr. Adam Bringhurst, and faculty member and technical advisor, Dr. Ben Dymond.

Task 7: Testing

Task 7.1: Lab Access
- A Lab Binder will be created as required by the NAU Civil and Environmental Engineering (CENE) programs for lab access. This binder will contain the following information.
  - Project and team information
  - Initial Project Plan that contains information such as planned laboratory activities, hazard and risk identification, waste generation and disposal plans, safety protocols, and training
  - Emergency Response Plan
  - Safety training documentation and lab agreements
  - Project activity log
Task 7.2: Setup of Beam and Instrumentation
- Lab Manager, Dr. Adam Bringhurst and faculty member, Dr. Benjamin Dymond will assist in the setup of the Big Beam in accordance with PCI rules, including:
  - Placing the beam on pin and roller supports
  - Aligning the applied load to match the pattern specified in the rules
  - Placing two hydraulic jacks and a spreader beam on top of the Big Beam
  - Placing load cells in-line to measure applied load
  - Placing a linear displacement transducer under the beam at midspan to measure the deflection during testing.
Task 7.3: Cylinder Testing and Failure Predictions
- The test cylinders will be tested in order to obtain more accurate values for compressive and tensile strength of the specific batch of concrete used in the beam.
  - Tensile strength will be determined with ASTM C78 or ASTM C496.
  - Compressive strength will be determined with ASTM C39
- The estimated failure predictions will be revised using the results of the tests and submitted to Tpac for certification that the calculations were done prior to being tested.
Task 7.4: Testing the Big Beam and Documenting Behavior
- The PCI Big Beam Competition designates a load pattern that will be applied until the beam fails. The following things will be measured and completed during the test.
  - Maximum total applied load
  - Total applied cracking load
  - Midspan deflection at maximum total applied load
  - A load/midspan deflection graph showing the peak load and cracking load
  - The load test will be documented with a video.

Task 8.0: Analysis of Results and Comparison to Predicted Failure

The team will analyze the results and compare the actual results to the predicted failure. Competition performance is partially based on the accuracy of predictions.

Task 9.0: Cost of Implementation

The PCI Big Beam Competition is partially judged based on the lowest beam cost. The cost of the final design will be determined using the material prices outlined in the PCI rules. Cost calculations must be submitted as part of the competition and final report.

Task 10.0: Project Impacts

The social, environmental, and economic impacts will be examined.

Task 11.0 Deliverables

Task 11.1: 30% Submittal
- Format:
  - 30% report
  - 30% presentation
- Technical Tasks completed:
  - All tasks through Task 5: Shop Drawings
- Due date:
Task 11.2: 60% Submittal
- Format:
  - 60% report
  - 90% presentation.
- Technical Tasks completed:
  - All tasks through Task 7.2: Setup of Beam and Instrumentation
- Due date:
Task 11.3: 90% Submittal
- Format:
  - 90% report
  - 90% website to present project information
  - Short video showcasing the entire project’s process.
- Technical Tasks completed:
  - All tasks through Task 10: Project impacts
Task 11.4: Final Submittal
- Format
  - Final report,
  - Final website
  - Final presentation
- Technical tasks completed:
  - All tasks through Task 10: Project Impacts
- Due Date: May 6, 2025
Task 11.5: PCI Big Beam Competition Submittal
- Format:
  - Final Report (edited from Task 11.4 as needed)
  - Final Competition video
- Tasks Completed
  - All tasks completed
- Due Date: May 9, 2025
  - The PCI Big Beam Competition closes June 13, 2025. The due date is pushed forward to match the end of the NAU Academic Spring Semester.

Task 12.0: Project Management

Task 12.1: Resource Management
- Includes tracking of:
  - team hours
  - budget
  - managing communication between the client, GI, TA and team
- An agenda will be created 24 hours before any meeting; meeting minutes will be drafted within 24 hours of any meeting. Agendas and minutes will be documented in a Memo Binder.
Task 12.2: Schedule Management
- Weekly team meetings will occur to ensure that the project is on track and that deadlines/deliverables are met.

The team has determined the following positions as necessary if this project was completed as a part of a company's workload.

Senior Engineer (SENG): a licensed Professional Engineer who has 10-15 years of experience as an engineer
Engineering Intern (INT): a student enrolled in an ABET accredited program in Civil Engineering (or similar) and has some experience with similar engineering work.
Structural Engineer (STE): A Professional Engineer with a license in Structural Engineering and experience working on structural components.
Lab Technician (LTE): a person with a GED or high school diploma, ideally with a relevant degree in engineering technology or similar, and also with at least two years of experience testing materials.

The following table shows the what the staffing plan would look like as part of a company's workload.

The estimated cost of engineering services for this project is in the table below, including personnel, travel, supply, and subcontractor costs

Personel Costs: considers estima t ed salary information and hours
Travel: considers the cost of a 1 day trip to Phoenix for the beam and test cylinder manufacturing
Supply: Includes the estimated cost of renting the lab equiptment
Subcontractor Costs: considers the costs of subcontracting the manufacturing of the beam and test cylinders, based on an estimate from Tpac, and the cost of consulting with Dr. Ben Dymond.