Every year, the American Society of Civil Engineers designs a canoe made of lightweight concrete to compete
against other universities in the area. For our project, we are experimenting with different materials that can be
used as reinforcement in the canoe. This project gives the opportunity to experiment with a variety of materials
and to be creative with placement and types of reinforcement. We are testing steel, plastic (polypropylene) and
rubber (neoprene) meshes with similar opening sizes placed at different locations within thin concrete beams.
Based on previous experience, we expect the steel woven wire with ¼” cover to have the greatest strength.
However, we would like to compare this to the weights of the materials since the overall weight of the canoe is
an important factor.