The broadcast is now starting. All attendees are in listen-only mode. Good afternoon. Welcome to PCI's webinar series. This presentation is Precast Protects Life. My name is Royce Covington, Manager of Member Services at PCI, and I'll be your moderator for this session. Before I turn the controls over to your presenter today, I have a few introductory items to note. If you need anything, please feel free to contact me by replying to your registration confirmation or send an email to marketing at pci.org, as shown on your screen. Earlier today, we sent an email containing handouts for today's presentation. The handouts are also available for you to download now in the handout pane near the bottom of the GoToWebinar Toolbox. There, you will find a PDF of today's presentation, detailed instructions to access your certificate, and a webinar attendance sign-in sheet, which is only for locations with more than one person viewing. 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Any questions about the content of this webinar should be directed to PCI. Our presenter for today is Jim Schneider, Executive Director of the PCI Mountain States Region. With a background in communications and marketing, Jim has worked in the design and construction industry for 15 years. He is one of the co-founders of the PCI Sustainability Committee and currently serves on numerous PCI committees, including the Marketing Council and the Architectural Handbook Task Group. I'll now turn the controls over so that we can begin our presentation. Thank you, Royce. How's everybody doing today? I am Jim Schneider. Thank you very much for joining us today. We're going to be talking about how precast protects life, which, you know, basically what we're going to be discussing today are ideas related to resilience and life safety and other things to think about in design and construction to create buildings that are safe for their occupants, their communities and ways that precast can help you help contribute to those types of efforts. So our learning objectives today are to define the concept of resiliency and discuss its importance in designing for the future. We'll discuss ways in which resilient design and sustainable design intersect. We'll learn about ways that precast, pre-stressed concrete can be used in designs that protect occupants and contribute to community health and resilience. And along the way, we're also going to share some case studies of safe, sustainable and resilient precast projects. So in construction and design, of course, we often find that decisions are made for the present. So it might be thinking about what the first costs are, how quickly can we get this built? Or what's the schedule or, you know, the kinds of decisions that are very much driven in the now, of course, which are all very important to the life of a project. However, you know, it's important to stand back and think about the fact that a lot of the decisions we make today are actually going to be impacting tomorrow. So, you know, a building is going to stand for many years, hopefully. And the idea is that we want to be making decisions that are going to make that building function well and provide a good service to its occupants, its owners, its community for many, many years to come. Buildings and other structures can stand for a long time, particularly when we're talking about precast, pre-stressed concrete as a material. You know, buildings that incorporate precast can last 100 years. And, you know, of course, we see buildings lasting that long and much longer all around the world. So these are important considerations. So, you know, we hear a lot more about taking a lifecycle perspective. And a lifecycle perspective means making decisions that go beyond those first costs and taking into account the long-term operating expenses, environmental impact, maintenance, and overall longevity. So this is, of course, you know, a big part of the conversation. We're thinking about things like sustainability and other issues as well. But it's really, you know, making decisions that might affect costs or schedule or something in one way or another in the front, but also then will spread out that impact over time. And you want to think about what the long-term implications of your decisions are. So buildings are, of course, a major pillar of communities everywhere. You know, they kind of make up our cities and towns, and whether large cities or small rural communities, buildings are the structures where people live, work, learn, and come together. They are a vital part of the fabric of society. Buildings also represent a considerable financial investment. According to Statista, between the years 2008 and 2017, buildings accounted for approximately 6.36% of total U.S. GDP. So we're thinking about holistic design, thinking about buildings as healthy spaces, thinking about buildings as, you know, something that is going to serve a purpose for a very long time. It's good to take a holistic approach. So this is a quote from the U.S. General Service Administration definition of sustainable design. Utilizing a sustainable design philosophy encourages decisions at each phase of the design process that will reduce negative impacts on the environment and the health of the occupants without compromising the bottom line. It's an integrated, holistic approach that encourages compromise and trade-offs. Such an integrated approach positively impacts all phases of a building's lifecycle, including design, construction, operation, and decommissioning. So I think kind of one of the important words in this definition is trade-offs. And we'll talk about this as we go throughout the presentation. Like anything you do in design or construction or building, whatever decisions you make in terms of materials or, you know, techniques, it's all going to, you know, everything sort of has a cost and, you know, a trade-off. So what are you going to get for that cost? How are those things balance each other out? And that's really what the thinking has to be when you're thinking about a building holistically. Like, so what is the best combination of elements I can put together here to get the best performance, the best, you know, return for my investment, essentially? So the benefits of holistic design. First of all, there are health and safety benefits. Again, enhancing occupant comfort and health. Thinking about what's going to, you know, what can we put into the building or how can we go about constructing this building in a way that's going to enhance not just the comfort, but also the health of the occupants, which makes it a better investment for the owner and it's better all around. Also environmental benefits. Reduce the impact of natural resource consumption. So particularly now, you know, sustainability is definitely a big part of the conversation for many designers. We want to be thinking about what is the best, you know, way we can be stewards of the environment and the community around us by creating the most sustainable, high-functioning building. And economic benefits. These same types of approaches can really have a positive impact on the bottom line because we are talking about things like when we're talking about first cost versus, you know, long-term costs. You know, sometimes things that you invest in up front can create a better operation of the building throughout time. So you save money on, you know, HVAC or, you know, save money on energy, I should say, and other different types of things along the way. So important to think about those also. And particularly when we're talking about things like resilience, as we're going to talk about in this presentation, you know, also the idea that you may not have to rebuild a building several times over the span of a life or, you know, have heavy repairs if you encounter severe storm events or just degradation due to, you know, natural, you know, conditions. So, you know, those are also things to think about. And then community benefits. You want to minimize the strain on local infrastructures and improve the quality of life. So a high-functioning, low-maintenance building is going to minimize the strain on local infrastructure, you know, and also how does it even, you know, getting built and all that stuff, like what kind of strain does that put on infrastructure? So these are things to all consider when looking at a building holistically. So how does PRECAST protect life? I mean, I know it's the title of the presentation, so we're obviously going to be talking about that on a number of different levels throughout here. But one thing, so PRECAST, when we kind of stand back and look at it, can contribute to the strategies of maintaining the health, safety, and integrity of individuals and communities. The following attributes of PRECAST are important in designing for life, safety, and health. So these are all elements, or I'm sorry, all attributes we would say PRECAST can help deliver. And, you know, part of the important ways that we feel that PRECAST can contribute to life, safety, and resilience. So PRECAST, it's durable, it's resilient, there's a storm resistance, fire protection, blast resistance, seismic design, indoor environmental quality, and sustainability. So we're going to be touching on each one of these throughout the presentation, talking about some examples of different designs that had to factor these things in and how PRECAST played a part in that design. So first, we'll talk about durability, which is kind of an underpinning of a lot of the other things, frankly, but PRECAST is a very durable material. It's, you know, highly engineered, very strong material that can deliver 100-year service life. PRECAST concrete building can function at a high level for decades, while providing flexibility of use. Its environmental impact is spread out over a long period of time. And deconstruction and construction are both energy and material intensive processes. The longer a building lasts, the more that impact is mitigated. So if you have a building that can last for a very long period of time, that means you don't have to go through all the energy and resources of tearing it down and building it back up. So PRECAST concrete components provide a long service life due to their durable and low-maintenance concrete surfaces. A PRECAST concrete shell can be left in place while the building interior is renovated. Annual maintenance should include inspection, if necessary, repair, and sealant. Modular and sandwich construction with concrete exterior and interior walls provide long-term durability inside and out. So, you know, that's the thing to note, too. It's like we can talk about the fact that PRECAST will last 100 years. That's great. But we all know that often, you know, the use of a building might change or that neighborhood might change or things might change around it. But one of the advantages of PRECAST is that it allows you a lot of flexibility in terms of redesign or retrofit. So a building could conceivably be used for many different purposes, you know, with different owners over time. So it can last that long time, not have to add to the energy and material drain by having to be taken down and rebuilt over that period of time. Now, I should note the picture in the corner here before I move on to the next slide is the Baha'i Temple, which is kind of an example of durable PRECAST. I mean, this is a building that began construction in the 20s and was completed in the early 1950s. It's in Illinois. It's a very beautiful, ornate PRECAST concrete structure. Beautiful as held up to the test of time, you know, and, you know, the environmental conditions and weather can be kind of tough in that part of the country. But the building looks beautiful and is still functioning very well to this day. So that's another, you know, just one example of the durability of PRECAST. So all of this is kind of, you know, tipping towards the idea of building for the future. PRECAST concrete components provide a long service life due to their durable and low-maintenance concrete surfaces. As I've mentioned before, the shell can be left in place when the building interior is renovated. So it just gives you a lot of flexibility over time. Concrete inherently provides a protection system for internal reinforcement from corrosion in most environments. Exposed concrete surfaces are hard and resistant to penetration. Some softer construction materials are inedible, but still provide pathways for insects. Due to its hardness, vermin and insects will not bore through concrete. So you don't really have to worry about termites when you're talking about PRECAST concrete. Concrete is also resistant to wind, hurricanes, floods, and fire. Properly designed PRECAST concrete is also resistant to earthquakes and provide blast protection for occupants. So a lot of these durability aspects we're going to be touching on in a little bit more detail in some of the other sections of this presentation, but it is sort of an overarching quality of PRECAST that makes it a very safe and long-lasting material. So a quick case study on durability. I'll talk a little bit about St. Armand's Parking Garage in Sarasota, Florida. This was a PCI Design Award winner. So St. Armand's Circle in Sarasota is a favorite destination for tourists and locals alike. Located on St. Armand's Quay along Florida's Gulf Coast, it offers an open-air shopping market, restaurants, and festivals throughout the year. The main streetscape has been extensively updated over the last 10 years. However, parking options were limited and in need of an upgrade. The City was facing pressure to address the parking situation quickly and to accommodate back then incoming Christmas crowds, back when people got together. That led the City to plan a $12 million four-story, 482-space parking structure built entirely of PRECAST concrete. So in addition to expanding parking options, the new garage had to provide a complement to the landscape. It was achieving a Silver ParkSmart rating, which is the second highest rating offered by a green building certification. The owner was also extremely interested in durability because of the project's proximity to the Gulf of Mexico. Construction had to be minimally disruptive so it wouldn't disrupt adjacent businesses and things like that. So basically this was a project that was designed with the idea of durability and also quick construction in mind and minimal site disturbance. So these are all things that contributed to its community, but durability was one of the overarching concerns because of the corrosive air by the Gulf Coast. So to increase waterproofing in the highly corrosive seaside environment, the PRECAST concrete producer included a special admixture in the panels that reduces concrete permeability, reduces water penetration, and helps seal hairline cracks. The parking structure design features a soaring white PRECAST concrete structure with dramatic exterior cascading stairs, a metal mesh twisted facade that catches the sunlight, and solar panels on the third level that provide electricity and shaded parking. A cast in place topping was implemented on the two main parking bays for increased durability and to minimize the sound for the adjacent residential neighbors. So that's just an example of how PRECAST was able to actually achieve a number of different things for this project. It was able to contribute to the aesthetics, which is important in all of this too. If we're thinking about a building particularly that we want to be durable and last a really long time, of course, we want to look nice as well. So PRECAST offers a lot of flexibility in terms of aesthetics. But by taking the special approach and using special admixtures and the way that it was designed, it's meant to stand up for a very long time and serve that community over a very long period of time. So the next thing we'll talk about is resilience. So resiliency is the ability of structures and communities to effectively adapt to changing conditions and maintain functionality in the face of stress, environmental change, or extreme events. Resilient communities are those with structures, systems, and infrastructure that are sufficiently durable and flexible to continue operation during or immediately following an extreme event or change. So with resilience, I think it's kind of one of those words everyone is using it right now. I think we all sort of know what it means. But I think what basically the main gist of it is a couple of things. First of all, is a building strong and durable enough to endure whether it's a kind of a quick instant event like a tornado or something that hits it with a lot of stress immediately? Or is it just going to have to stand up to a changing climate or changing conditions around it over time and be able to weather that? And also, a building's first responsibility, of course, is to protect its occupants. So whether that's a fire, a storm, flood, earthquake, the first thing a building has to do is maintain its integrity so that the people can be safe inside and get out and everything like that. But the second part of resilience is, does it not only do that, but then can it also continue function in a way that allows it to continue contributing to its community? So resilient buildings deliver a long and effective service life, provide safety and well-being to occupants, effectively resist hurricane and tornado-force wind, earthquake, fire, or blast incidents, minimize disruption and reduce recovery time for individuals and communities, provide sufficient functional resilience to ensure nearly continuous operation, even in the face of environmental change or severe events, and not place excess demand on community resources, provide benefits for insurance and overall long-term investment, and meet the needs of communities seeking structures and buildings that perform above code and add to their overall resiliency equation. So even talking about the title of this presentation, Precast Protects Life, I mean, so like I said, that first responsibility is protecting the lives, the physical lives of the people inside the building. But then there's also something beyond that, the actual lifestyle, the livelihoods of the people in that community. So by being able to continue its function, even after a severe storm and earthquake, anything like that, the building can continue its function. That means it's allowed to serve its place in the community. People can keep going to work. People can keep going to school. And that's very important as well. So that's the second kind of part of that whole equation when we're talking about resiliency. So precast concrete is resilient and safe. It's resilient to extraordinary loading scenarios. It provides for life safety and health. So, you know, it's a durability aspect that we talked about that, you know, we'll see as we go through the presentation is a great protection against things like storms and fire and some of those severe events. But also it does provide, you know, good qualities for indoor environmental quality and passive fire resistance. So life safety and health. It's an inert material. So you don't have off gassing and things like that inside. It makes for a healthy environment and passively resists fire. It's effect on the environment, which is, you know, it's over time. It serves a very long life cycle. It delivers a lot of energy efficiency and is inert over time. So it's effect on the environment is, you know, negligible. It's compared to other materials. And we'll talk more about that in the sustainability section. Functionally resilient. So protection from multi hazards, storms, earthquakes and blasts. Also able to suffer little damage or quickly return to service after an event. And that's the important part here. It's not only does it stand up to the event, but can it then continue use. And here is a really interesting example of that, frankly. You may recall, back in 2011, there was a terrible F5 tornado in Joplin, Missouri that pretty much leveled the entire town. It was on the ground for 20 minutes, traveled around a 13 mile path, destroyed or damaged 10 schools, including Joplin High School. 162 lives were lost in that tragic storm. And that was, you know, we see those types of storms occur in the Midwest and, you know, it's tragic and they're very powerful forces of nature that, you know, we need to think about in our designs. So Joplin High School. Interesting story here was that there was a 96,000 square foot freestanding former Shopko precast big box space attached to a mall that actually survived that tornado. So it was a precast building that wasn't being used and survived was identified as one of the few standing structures in the town with the space available to house an interim high school for 1200 students. The space had sat vacant for 10 years but within a couple days of the storm the school superintendent promised that school would start on time on August 17. The district relied on a team to design and construct an interim high school within 55 days they were able to use that pre-existing precast building and build it out as a high school, and it became Joplin High School. So it's an example of a couple things. First of all, the durability and resilience of precast. That is an example of a building that not only survived the severe event, but was able to continue into use. And in fact, it also offered the flexibility that allowed it to be used for something that other than what it was originally built for. So that's an example of both the resilience and the flexibility of precast concrete. And I'll do a little quick case study in resilience, another project example here. This is the Nassau County Police 8th Precinct in Bethpage, New York. So in 2012, another severe storm that we remember in this country was Hurricane Sandy. Inflicted more than $70 billion of damage to homes, roads, businesses, and public buildings across the Northeast. Over six years later, the region, or all these years later, a couple years ago, still rebuilding from that natural disaster. So following that storm, many structures owned by Nassau County in New York State were evaluated for structural damage, including the police precincts. Prior to the storm, several of these buildings had already been in need of renovation to accommodate a growing police force and resolve problems of an aging infrastructure. The storm accelerated that need. In the 8th District, Nassau County wanted to replace the 1950s-era frame and brick precinct buildings with structures that communicated civic pride and could withstand the onslaughts of future major events. Resiliency was a major factor in the selection of the precast concrete in this project. It all came together with precast concrete in terms of it being resilient, fabrication that wasn't weather-dependent, constructability, and it also was able to deliver the aesthetics desired for this particular project. So it's an example of where precast was able to be used for this to give the look that the precinct wanted, but also the kind of resilience anticipating another storm like that could happen at some point in time. It was a constrained, long, and narrow site, but precast was able to deliver what they needed on that site because it's a minimal site disturbance, can do it on a tight site pretty easily. It was a good fit for this project in a number of reasons, not least of which was because it was known that precast can withstand the types of potential weather events that could come in the future. So storm resistance, continuing on that thread, a little bit more about that. Precast concrete provides superior protection against the physical abuse that can be doled out by severe weather events such as tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods. Inherently resilient, precast provides excellent protection against high winds, storm surge, scour, and flying debris. It is often used in FEMA shelters as well as residential, institutional, public, government, and other structures requiring extra protection from the elements. Precast wall panels provide excellent resistance against flying debris, which often become projectiles or missiles during a tornado or hurricane. Of course, we all know that particularly when we're talking about tornadoes in the Midwest or hurricanes along the coast, the wind itself can be very damaging to buildings, but sometimes even more scary is all the windblown debris that's getting thrown around. Those things turn into projectiles and can cause severe damage to buildings. PCI tested various wall systems with the impact of a 2x4 wood stud traveling at 100 miles per hour, the equivalent of windborne debris during a tornado with 250 mile per hour winds. I've got a little video to show you here that demonstrates this. This is a wind cannon test that PCI conducted a number of years ago. Just so you can see sort of a visual of what this looks like, what does that windborne debris look like when it's hitting different types of wall systems. First, here's a vinyl and wood frame. You can see it goes right through there. Only plus there is it leaves a very, you know, it's very small hole. It was a very clean cut. So, you know, patch that up. But here you see it go through the brick. You know, a little bit more resistance there. So on a brick and wood frame, it still penetrates pretty easily. Next is a brick and steel frame. You know, there it gives the 2x4 quite a bit of trouble, but it does still penetrate. So the occupants of that building are still in danger. And that debris is passing through. And here's a precast concrete sandwich wall panel and you can see the 2x4 bounces right off of it essentially. That would be minimal or no repair at all. And that building would be able to continue its function. It kept its occupants safe. It's able to continue serving its community in the way that it needs to. So safe rooms are becoming more common in communities across the United States. They can often be built into gymnasiums or schools. So these are storm resistant safe rooms with FEMA requirements. FEMA requires all safe room building designs be set requirements for occupancy density, debris, missile impact and suction, as well as be able to stand up to direct wind speeds of 250 miles per hour for an F5 tornado rating. Community safe rooms systems designed to specific FEMA 361 standards create stability with sheer wall panels. In addition to the primary wind resistance, the safe room walls act as exterior load bearing walls in some locations. So it is an important aspect. People are building to this, whether it's with schools or other types of structures, because storms are a severe threat in many parts of the country, and with taking a look at what climate change is doing to weather and everything, it's another piece of building for the future where we want to be prepared for the most difficult challenges that might be coming to a building. In terms of storm resistance, flooding and surge are also an issue when we're talking about along the coast. With storm surge and flooding, large amounts of water rush up over the land and buildings. This water can carry loose debris that can be substantial in nature and act as a battering ram against the building. In some cases, if a surge is high enough, the debris can impact the building at a height that was not designed to withstand that kind of force. So, you know, these are things that we have to consider as well. Scour results from water surging beneath a slab on grade. This actually loosens the soil beneath the concrete, causing it to deteriorate or break up, resulting in the supporting building tilting or becoming unstable. This can be prevented by using precast concrete pilings or columns to create a stable soil foundation on which the slab can be poured. Now, we'll take a look at another quick case study here, thinking again about storm resistance. This is another project on the East Coast, Statue of Liberty Museum, so a pretty high profile one. But, you know, again, this one was designed with the idea of storm resistance in mind, along with a number of other objectives that precast was able to help with. The 50,000 square foot museum and screening facility on Liberty Island, of course, had to be iconic. The building would sit in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty and host millions of visitors each year. So, it had to be durable enough to sustain that level of traffic and to handle the increasingly destructive storms and waves that periodically batter the East Coast. Precast concrete can meet all of those goals, providing a durable and flexible material that could accommodate complex design while delivering a sustainable, low-maintenance structure that will last for generations. Precast was used for everything but the foundation. This approach delivered multiple benefits. So, going with a prefabricated solution meant less time on site, accelerated construction, you know, and also, you know, so there were some advantages in terms of just the construction part of it as well. But to accommodate flooding risks on the island, the design team created a hollow space at the lowest level of the museum and created 84 rectangular cutouts that allow floodwater to flow freely into the base. This reduces the risk of pressure on the structure during extreme weather events while creating temporary storage for the floodwater. You know, this is all, again, thinking in terms of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. So, the museum was set above 500-year flood levels and built to withstand hurricane force winds. So, you know, this was something that was a, you know, definitely here's a building that they want to last for many years. They want to be able to stand up to, you know, the anticipated types of severe storms that could be coming that we've already seen. And so, it, you know, PRECAST was able to help with that as well. But, you know, it's also – it was designed for sustainability and there's a lot of, you know, that PRECAST is able to contribute to on that level. It's a really interesting case study. But, you know, another example of how PRECAST was able to contribute to, you know, both the resiliency and durability but also the aesthetics, the sustainability of this particular project. Sustainability was also a primary goal in design. PRECAST concrete materials brought significant benefits on that level. The high thermal mass of the concrete panels helps maintain interior temperatures and minimize the effects of outdoor temperature swings. Additionally, the special connection details minimize thermal bridging between the interior and exterior building components. The museum features the sustainable green roof, adding both to the earthy design aesthetic and the project's sustainability goals. So, next, we'll talk about fire resistance. Moving away from storms a little bit. So, fire resistance, the best way, of course, to prevent a fire is to build with materials that are not flammable. PRECAST concrete offers non-combustible construction that does not add fuel to fire. You know, simply it does help to compartmentalize as a separation wall. PRECAST concrete helps prevent a fire from spreading throughout a building or jumping from building to building. During wildfires, PRECAST concrete walls help provide protection to human life and the occupants' possessions. As an exterior wall, concrete that endures a fire can be reused when the building is rebuilt. A two-hour fire endurance for a PRECAST concrete wall will most likely mean the wall becomes hot after two hours, basically, whereas a two-hour fire endurance rating on a wood wall puts that wall near collapse. So, that's, you know, a really important difference when you're thinking about what that two-hour rating means. And, you know, PRECAST, again, is a very durable, non-flammable, non-combustible material, so it's excellent in response to fire. There are fire-resistant resources available on PCI.org, including the Design for Fire Resistance of PRECAST Pre-Stressed Concrete, handy manual that's available for download. A standard PCI-124 was published in 2018 and is adopted into the 2020 IBC. It provides an alternate design approach, commonly referred to as rational design, when the prescriptive requirements of the IBC cannot be met. MNL-124 holds an ICC Evaluation Service Report, ESR 1997, that allows its use under the 2006 IBC. And a quick, you know, kind of discussion, case study in fire, new house apartments in Salt Lake City, Utah. So, this is a project that basically was – it's PRECAST parking and it was going to have a, as you can see, a wood structure above it. So, it was already almost finished construction. It was nearly framed in when it was struck by a four-alarm fire. Terrible fire that, you know, consumed the entire building, destroyed the wood structure, and rendered it completely unusable. So, a very severe fire, but what was discovered was that the PRECAST elements of it, that parking underneath, was, you know, damaged or undamaged enough that it was able to be repaired and used very quickly in the final completion of this project. So, even though fire tore down, you know, the rest of the building, the PRECAST part of it stood. It was able to, you know, pretty much remain on schedule and come back and have a new building built above it and continue to serve its purpose. So, that sort of shows you an example of how fire-resistant PRECAST is. It was able to stand up to that kind of fire and, you know, that can be seen in all types of different applications as well. And blast resistance is another thing that we've kind of had to think about, particularly since 9-11, it's become more of the conversation when we talk about projects for government or military installations and things like that. So, PRECAST concrete can not only stand up to flames and heat, it can also withstand extreme blast forces from explosive devices. Many government facilities require blast-resistant design and often utilize PRECAST concrete. So, PRECAST concrete provides excellent anti-terrorism force protection and blast resistance, among other high-performance attributes. It's been used in many military, government, and other structures to provide protection. So, you can refer to the PCI blast design manual as pictured here. It's another thing that's available on pci.org for download. I'm going to take a look at a quick video here that shows a blast test conducted on an Air Force base. So, we see some PRECAST panels here being impacted by a blast. And you'll see, you know, there's a number of different angles here. I mean, along with the cool explosions, you'll see a little bit about how the wall panels respond to that. And, you know, first of all, the important thing to note is that they stand up. We don't see the panels fail in any part of this test. You know, in this shot, you can see all the debris coming off the roof. So, you can see how severe that blast is. The force that's coming off of that is knocking things off the top there. But what's interesting, especially in these interior shots here, you can actually see the flexibility that you're getting from that prestressing that's inside that allows those panels to absorb that blast force, move with it, and maintain its integrity. So, that's, you know, part of, you know, there's all kinds of different ways to talk about, you know, things that have to be considered with blast design, progressive collapse, and things like that. You know, there's more information available out there on that as well if you're interested. But that just kind of shows you quickly how, you know, the qualities of PRECAST prestressed concrete can really help to protect the occupants of a building in a blast situation and how that absorbs that energy and, you know, allows the building to stand. So, quick little case study we'll do talking about BLAST. It's a military project actually out here in my neck of the woods in Colorado, Fort Carson's 13th Cab Barracks at Fort Carson, Colorado. So, this project consisted of 486 high-performance insulated non-composite wall panels with inset thin brick and acid-etched architectural surfaces. The project consists of six buildings featuring 18,400 square feet of structural concrete and 207,700 square feet of architectural concrete. The project features nominal 15-inch thick high-performance insulated non-composite load-bearing wall panels with inset thin brick supporting steel floor and roof systems. The wall panels have an average width of 12 feet and a height of 48 feet. The panels feature a concrete strength of 500 PSI and are designed to meet BLAST loading and anti-terrorism force protection criteria. A total of 486 panels, 226,100 square feet were erected in about 15 weeks, resulting in a timely completion and turnover to the Army. In order to meet thermal efficiency requirements, low-conductivity thermoplastic wire ties were selected for use within the precast panels to create a wall panel system providing a superior R-value. So, once again, these projects are designed to do many different things. This is designed for BLAST protection, of course, but also thermal efficiency, energy efficiency, all that kind of aesthetics as well. These prestressed panels include a layer of polyisocyanurate rigid insulation for maximum energy efficiency. The steady-state R-value provided was 32 with the use of insulated non-composite wall panels over the entire precast concrete area. Precast was chosen for its versatility, benefits of energy efficiency, cost-effectiveness, fire resistance, and rapid construction. Panels also provide low-maintenance facade that will retain an excellent condition and attractive appearance throughout the life of the structure. The structures are several buildings designed to limit the effects of local collapse, also prevent or minimize progressive collapse. Barracks are designed to hold abnormal loading, built with continuity, ductility, and redundancy to resist the spread of damage after a blast or impact. So, that's an example of where, obviously, we want to protect the occupants of those buildings from potential attack, and so we have to be thinking about things like blast resistance, and precast was a selection for that project for that reason. Another thing that can cause stress to buildings, of course, in certain parts of the country especially, are earthquakes, so we're going to talk a little bit about seismic. In seismic design, precast concrete can provide excellent protection against earthquakes, among many other high-performance attributes. It's been used in seismic regions all over the world and in all building types. PCI has developed a body of knowledge for precast seismic design and is proud to offer a number of resources in that area. A 10-year study by the Precast Seismic Structural Systems Research Program produced three approaches to seismic design using precast. They are hybrid post-tension precast frame, pre-tension precast frame, and shearwall systems. A hybrid post-tension precast frame is a method where precast concrete beams connected to multi-story columns by unbonded post-tension strands run through a duct in the center of the beam and through the columns. Mild steel reinforcement is placed in ducts at the top and bottom of the beam, which is sleeved through the column and grouted. The reinforcement yields alternately in tension and compression and provides energy dissipation, while the post-tensioning strands essentially act as rubber bands that help right the structure after a seismic event ends. There are no column corbels. The vertical shear resistance provided by the post-tensioning strand, the post-tensioning steel balances the mild steel reinforcement so the frame re-centers after flexing during a seismic event. Pre-tension precast frame, the multi-span beams are cast with partially de-bonded pre-tensioning strand set on columns. The columns reinforcing steel extends through the sleeves inside the beams. Reinforcing bars splices ensure continuity above the beam. As the frame displaces laterally, the de-bonded strand remains elastic while the system dissipates relatively less energy than other systems. It re-centers the structure after a major seismic event. Although this frame has performed satisfactorily in tests, it would not be allowed to act as the sole seismic force-resisting system in regions of high seismic risk. In pre-tension precast frame, the press shear wall design uses an innovative approach for anchoring and connecting jointed walls to lengthen the structural period and reduce the design-based shear forces. Gravity loads are mobilized to partially resist overturning from lateral ground motions. The system also considered the behavior of the jointed shear wall system when the wall lifts off and rocks, along with its effect on design forces. Unbonded post-tensioning forces re-centered the wall system when the load was removed, so there would be minimal residual drift after a design-level earthquake. Re-centering was ensured by relating the elastic capacity of the post-tensioning system to the yield strength of the panel-to-panel connection. The shear wall is expected to displace laterally to approximately 2 percent of the storage drift under a design-level earthquake. So here we have a video to show you a little bit about – this is a moment-resisting hybrid frame from precast, and you can see a little bit about how it responds to a shake table test. This is replicating a nine-point earthquake with this precast frame design, and you can see the way the connections allow the components to actually move with that seismic force, yet maintain their integrity. So again, important note of that. Same with some of the other tests we looked at. It didn't fail, so that's great news, and that's exactly what we're talking about with seismic. And it is important to note that seismic is certainly a code requirement in certain parts of the country where earthquakes are a concern, so precast can help you meet those code requirements with the various designs that are available there. So here's a quick case study in seismic, Parking Structure 5, California State University in Sacramento. So the goal of achieving sustainability was part of every decision made in the design construction of Parking Structure 5, because the six-level garage with 1,750 stalls sits at the front of campus. The designers also wanted to make sure it would complement the natural setting aesthetically while providing students and faculty with a durable, environmentally sound structure. So here again, you have a building that not only was taking seismic into account, but also was thinking about aesthetics and actually went out with a goal to achieve a gold ParkSMART rating, which is the highest rating offered by green building certification for the U.S. Green Building Council. The university wanted this to be the highest performing, most sustainable parking structure west of the Mississippi, and precast was there to help make that happen. From the use of repeatable custom form liners and locally produced concrete to naturalistic aesthetics, the project is a celebration of environmental design and construction. The project used a high-performing precast hybrid moment frame to provide enhanced resilience during a seismic event. The frame also allowed for an open structure that is shearwall-free, thereby greatly enhancing passive security. This is especially important in a student campus setting. So again, the superstructure consists of prefabricated concrete panels featuring integral architectural finishes and attachments. The facade has a birch-like pattern and playful fluttering middle leaves generate shadow patterns and the perception of movement, reflecting a tectonic expression of the natural beauty of the campus arboretum. So like many others we talked about, I mean, there is a very functional purpose to using precast here, but it can also bring you that aesthetic flexibility and achieve a lot of other things on projects as well. It's a pretty cool parking structure. Another design award winner within PCI. So next thing we're going to talk about is indoor environmental quality. Now of course we've talked about life safety in terms of a lot of the big scary stuff like tornadoes and storms, fires and earthquakes and blasts, but also the health of people inside of a building is important on a day-to-day basis, and a big part of that is good indoor environmental quality. So using precast walls reduces the off-gassing often attributed with other materials. Now, as I mentioned somewhere earlier, it is an inert material, so it does not have volatile organic chemicals that will off-gas. Many finishes do not require painting or coatings because precast is inert. It does not require VOC-based preservatives like wood products do. Textured interior walls can provide aesthetic alternatives to VOC-emitting paints or wall board. Another element that's important to talk about there is thermal mass, which is the quality of precast that acts kind of like a heat battery. So thermal energy moves slowly through concrete and releases slowly, so it actually helps in the energy efficiency of a building, but it also helps in the comfort because it means that the heat energy is dissipating more evenly, so it keeps the temperature more even and comfortable. And it's also durable and inherently fire-resistant, as we've talked about, providing security and a peace of mind to occupants. Precast floors and walls also provide a very high level of sound attenuation with STC ratings of about 55, so if you're using precast holocore for floors and ceilings, for using precast for wall panels, it's really good at sound attenuation. It keeps that space, the sound under control. Long spans allow for open areas well-suited for daylighting. And also, I think we should note sort of here as we think about post-COVID design, those big open areas can be helpful for designing an interior space that's going to be safe for occupants, that you can keep people spaced out. Lots of flexibility in terms of interior design. So those are all important elements for indoor environmental quality. And related to that, let's talk last here about sustainability. So many different approaches to sustainability. It's a pretty broad concept that actually touches on a lot of the things we've already discussed in this presentation, but this is a definition from the whole building design guide. The main objectives of sustainable design are to reduce or completely avoid depletion of critical resources like energy, water, land, and raw materials, prevent environmental degradation caused by facilities and infrastructure throughout the lifecycle, and create built environments that are livable, comfortable, safe, and productive. So ways that we seek to achieve that is to optimize site potential, optimize energy use, protect and conserve water, optimize building space and material use, enhance indoor environmental quality, optimize operational and maintenance practices, and build resiliency and adaptability. Now, a few of these you'll recognize off this list are things that we've talked about, the resiliency, the adaptability, indoor environmental quality, but also things like optimizing site potential. So because the construction of precast can really be very minimally site – the minimal disturbance to the site, it allows you to use tight urban sites. It allows you to – even in some cases, you can do parking on lower levels with office or health care or something above it, so you can really optimize the site and not have to build a separate parking lot. So there's all kinds of different options that precast can help you with when we're thinking about sustainability. And really, another thing, too, is it's – of course, we know – we'll talk a little bit about embodied carbon in a minute. Of course, we know that concrete has a carbon impact. We know that cement releases CO2. But when we're thinking about the use of concrete in general, concrete, of course, does have an impact. But of concrete, precast, prestressed concrete produced in a plant under controlled conditions is the most material-efficient, sustainable form of concrete. So if you're going to be using concrete, it's one way to use less materials and have a lighter impact on the environment. So as part of a holistically designed, sustainable structure, precast, prestressed concrete can contribute in the areas of durability and resiliency, which we've talked about quite a bit here, energy efficiency – that kind of gets back to that thermal mass effect I was talking about a few minutes ago – life cycle performance, indoor environmental quality, and material efficiency. PCI did conduct a life cycle assessment a few years ago. And just to really quickly touch on it, basically what it found was that by far the most energy used by a building – about 96 percent of its impact to the environment – happens over its operation phase. So really what you're thinking about is what's the long-term performance of this building going to be over time? That's where the main impact is going to be, not so much in the materials up front. So when you take precast's impact and spread it out over its very long life cycle and compare it to other materials, it's within the margin of error of difference when we're talking about its impact on the environment. So you can make a decision based on what am I going to get the best long-term performance on, knowing that its life cycle overall impact is going to be very similar to those other materials. So embodied carbon, like sustainability itself, is something that's got a lot of different definitions out there. Some view it as the carbon of a building included in its entire life cycle of the materials, even the operation phase. A full life cycle view of embodied carbon would account for impacts of landfilling or recycling materials as well. Others focus on initial embodied carbon, which is just the impact associated with extracting, manufacturing, and transporting materials to the job site. And by the way, we should say carbon is used to indicate all greenhouse gas emissions, not just carbon dioxide. And according to ISO standards, embodied carbon is meant to imply the entire life cycle, not just cradle to gate. So not just what the impact is of making the material, it's what it's going to do for its entire life. I know we're getting close to time here, but so we are talking here about initial embodied carbon is basically just that embodied carbon of the product manufacturer itself. Embodied carbon materials from steel and cement are not reflected in the building's operational carbon emissions. And the 2030 challenge for embodied carbon addresses these emissions by setting reduction targets for embodied carbon, thereby allowing architects to make informed decisions when specifying building materials. Some of greenhouse gases and greenhouse gas removals in our system. So this is the ISO 14067. As we were talking about greenhouse gases, the carbon footprint of products, these are all addressed in things like 2030 challenge. But material, when we're thinking about materials, this is kind of the broad overview if we're thinking about it holistically from a life cycle perspective. Concrete contributes about 6 to 11 percent of global CO2 emissions from cement. Producing aggregate gives some of that as well. Steel also produces about 10 or so percent of the global carbon dioxide emissions. It's very energy intensive. And wood is a little bit harder to define. So there is plenty out there about what wood's impact or lack of it is, but there's also doesn't really factor. They're focused on the product manufacturer part, you know, as opposed to thinking about its entire life, because there is also a impact from taking trees out of rotation that do sequester carbon dioxide. You know, there's a biodegradation that happens. And also, you know, what happens to the wood at the end of its life. So there's more research that needs to be done on that. But each industry is making adjustments to try to improve on those levels. In the case of concrete, we're using supplementary cementitious materials like fly ash to help reduce reductions or reduce emissions and use less cement. Aggregate transportation is another area that we want to keep it local to minimize the impact there. And also precast, prestressed concrete is the optimum use of concrete, as we talked about. It's a much less material intensive process. Steel, of course, we'll say, you know, talk about using recycled steel, which does use less energy. And, you know, the wood industry talks about carbon being sequestered in the material, but that doesn't address the fact that end of life, it will decompose or burn. So in a nutshell, all building materials have a carbon cost. What you really want to do is weigh those costs versus what performance you're going to get, keeping in mind that it's the long-term performance of the building that's going to have the biggest impact over time. So is it, you know, worth considering materials that might have a bit more of an impact up front, if it means you don't have to, you know, tear the building down and rebuild it in 15 or 20 years. And if it means that you can, you know, spread that impact out over a very long life, as is the case with precast. Quick study and sustainability. Missoula Federal Credit Union in Missoula, Montana, is the project that utilized concrete made completely of recycled content. Pioneered the use of a concrete building product that eliminated Portland cement from the building, dramatically lowering the embodied carbon. Site cast footing, foundation walls, floor slabs, precast beams, exterior wall panels, coping sills, and lintels all use a mixture that utilizes fly ash, a waste product of coal-fired power plants, and recycled glass aggregates. Got a very first building in Montana to be awarded a LEED Platinum certification. So in summary, buildings of tomorrow need to be durable, flexible, and able to protect occupants and continue operation, even in the face of severe weather, fire, seismic, and other events. Precast concrete is a long-lasting, durable, and efficient material that inherently provides the versatility and resiliency needed to meet the demands of the present and the future. Flexibility and longevity of precast buildings means they can be used and reused for decades, providing excellent performance for generations. And I think that is an important thing to note as we go forward, too. The flexibility of use over time is a big part of the equation. I think that will be increasingly something we look at in the design of buildings and certainly some advantages we see with precast in those areas. And that is what I have. And I want to thank you all for spending some time with us today. And back to you, Royce. Thank you, Jim. On behalf of PCI, I'd like to thank you for the great presentation and all our attendees for participation. Unfortunately, we do not have time for any questions and answers, but any questions that have been submitted will be forwarded directly to Jim, and he will be able to reach out to you with your contact information. As a reminder, Certificates of Continuing Education will appear on your account at www.rcep.net within 10 days, and a recording of today's webinar will be uploaded to PCI's Learning Management System. Excuse me. A pop-up survey will appear immediately after this program ends. If you have any further questions about today's webinar, please email marketing at pci.org with the title Online Precast Protects Webinar. Thank you again. Have a great day, and please stay safe.

Precast Protects Life

Jim Schneider

Durability

Resilience

Fire resistance

Blast resistance

Seismic design

Indoor environmental quality

Sustainability