Concrete Canoe 2021

Project Overview
Long ago, the power and force dragons exhibited brought fear to the villagers below its cave. Its vibrant colors, stark red eyes and shiny scales exemplify the beautiful beast through fear and awe. But this dragon is not like most dragons told in folklore. The initial sighting might make you tremble inside, but the dragon shall not be feared as so. This dragon brings balance to the land of which it oversees, a steady presence against the winds of difficulties. This year’s CSM Concrete Cano team encompasses that same kind of balance, using our power to pass through the treacherous winds of this pandemic. In a nod to a challenging year full of growth, the team chose to personify balance with it’s chosen team name Statera: the direct Latin translation.
The achievements of Daedalus (2nd RMRSC, 11th overall NCCC, 2018), The Kraken (1st RMRSC, 14th NCCC, 2019) and the flexibility shown by Oh, The Places You’ll Row! (2020) encouraged this years’ team to continue to seek success through perseverance, innovation and determination. Mimicking the successful team structure of previous years, leaders were elected to manage the major subsystems that go into a canoe design. Responding to today’s challenges, the Safety lead had a greater responsibility to keep the team and others safe and healthy. Despite a new competition format, the team recognized the opportunity to place more emphasis on material testing and developing better data management practices in the hope of furthering the legacy at Colorado School of Mines.
With the teams’ desire for a vibrant canoe in mind, the team connected with Tim Cate at Wells Concrete, who generously donated two shades of red pigments, a vibrant blue, and a black pigment. The chosen Enhanced Focus Areas (EFA) of Lab Material Testing and Team Website allowed for a more focused approach to the Concrete Canoe Competition. While the Team Website is geared towards creating an accessible and understandable platform that future teams can reference back to, the Lab Material Testing EFA allows for detailed, data based aesthetic decisions. The final canoe color scheme was influenced by the strength values recorded through various test mixes. While the team had initially planned on having a base-red design, the strength values for the blue mix were the highest of the test mixes. In an effort to maximize the strength of the canoe, a base-blue, black scale outline and red eye design was chosen (see Figure 1).
Enhanced Focus Area Overview
In an effort to curb the effects of COVID-19 on the ASCE Concrete Canoe Competition, the Concrete Canoe Committee developed the Enhanced Focus Areas to allow for more creativity and exploration of different subjects by the various teams. The Colorado School of Mines Team landed on developing a website that could be used for data storage, and focused intently on lab material testing. The value added to the project from both the team website and the lab material testing is detailed in the Venn Diagram below.


A conceptual design of Statera: the force behind the balanced innovation

Vibrant blue concrete mix before and after testing curing