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2020-11-01
Concrete Engineering at Home
In 2020, the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Melbourne posted a tiny bag of cement to each second-year engineering student to create a miniature concrete column for their final assessment. In ordinary times, these students would have visited one of the city’s megaprojects to watch a concrete pour, but with construction barely operating and site visits banned, this was how the theory of the concrete mix was put into practice. There was a “slump test” to gauge the pliability of the mix and then the finished product could be assessed for its strength. My slump was good; my column, I suspect, would have failed at its base due to an overabundance of aggregate. For me, it was the highlight of a year of online study, and perhaps even more rewarding than it might have been in ordinary times. Now, I have a treasured (and very heavy) paperweight by which to remember my experience. Submitted for University of Melbourne HIST30060, Semester 2 2021.