Pasquale completed his civil engineering and administration undergraduate degree at the Universidad Panamericana in Guadalajara, México. His current graduate research (under the supervision of Marc Jolin ing., Ph. D.) studies the influence of nozzlemen experience and their ability to properly encapsulate rebar on the development length calculation of reinforcing steel under tension. It has already been seen in practice that even with experienced nozzlemen, the reinforcing steel is not completely encapsulated. Because shotcrete is essentially a method of concrete placement, the same parameters used in RCIP concrete design apply and development length of rebar is calculated using the ACI 318-14 equation. Nevertheless, this code does not currently suggest a correction factor to apply when shotcrete is used.  Finally, the objective of the study is to establish a set of correction factors to that code so they can be used whenever an engineer or contractor uses shotcrete in a structure. This will be achieved using the ASTM A944 beam-end test standard with both RCIP and shotcrete specimens and by intentionally adding defaults over the bonded length of the specimen’s test bar, condition that would represent what is encountered in practice.

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