Dr. Sriram Aaleti, Professor at The University of Alabama and a group of his graduate students traveled to Gate Precast in Monroeville, Alabama to witness the casting of their beam designs for the Big Beam Contest. The beams, a smaller section of a much larger bridge girder, were designed by Dr. Aaleti’s graduate students and will be submitted for PCI’s contest.
As an internal competition, the students designed two different beams with different strand patterns to see which would make a better cross-section and overall stronger beam. Gate Precast worked in tandem with Dr. Aaleti’s students to set up and cast the beam designs. Once the beams were cast, they were stripped and transported to the university’s testing facility in Tuscaloosa. As part of the casting, Gate Precast also gave the group a tour of their facilities and allowed them the opportunity to “pour” concrete.
Thank you Gate and Nate Brooks for being such wonderful hosts!
