a cooperation of abk Stuttgart, HFT Stuttgart and Uni Stuttgart
Hello, we are happy to announce our participation at the concrete canoe race 2023 in Delft. We're looking forward to seeing everyone there.
We warmly congratulate all the winners and prize-winners of the past 18th Concrete Canoe Regatta. The winners of the sporting competition, the HTWK Leipzig, who took first place in both the women's and men's competition; on the other podium places, Leibniz Uni Hannover (second place) and Bauhaus-Uni Weimar (third place) in the women's competition and Bauhaus-Uni Weimar, who completed the podium in the men's competition with both boats.
Congratulations to the University of Hanover for winning the open class with their Guelph carriage, pulled by the team "Amadeus" and "Sabrina".
No less important are the prizes for the construction of the boats. Here our congratulations go to Frankfurt UAS for the construction prize; Berlin University of Applied Sciences for the design prize and ETH Zurich for the sustainability prize.
Our great respect goes to the international teams, first and foremost to the team with the prize for the most adventurous, because longest journey, the team from Balıkesir University. Orada olduğun için teşekkür ederim. But we were also very happy about the teams from Hungary, Poland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria.
Now that the last prize, the Social Media Prize, has also been awarded, we would like to congratulate the winners, the Bauhaus University Weimar.
We would like to thank all those who make this event possible: The event team, the countless helpers from the reception, to the kitchen, jury, moderator and security, to all those whose work you didn't notice behind the scenes. Special thanks go to Sascha Steinbach, who as usual manages to capture and preserve memories with his perfect photos. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the sponsors once again, without whom the construction of the canoes and the holding of the regatta would not have been possible. As a representative of the city of Brandenburg an der Havel, we had the pleasure of welcoming Ms Alexandra Adel, who also deserves our sincere thanks. Last but not least, we would like to thank all those without whom the regatta site would look quite empty, the students of the various institutions, through whom the canoes take shape in the first place.
We are already looking forward to the next regatta in two years' time and perhaps we will see some of the students earlier at the Betoncanoerace in the Netherlands next year or at the next construction faculty conference in autumn.
The concrete canoe regatta in Germany takes place at different locations every two years. The last regatta was held in Brandenburg an der Havel in 2022, so there will be no regatta in Stuttgart in 2023. In order to create a smoother transition and preserve knowledge, the Betonkanuteam Stuttgart has decided to take part in the regatta in Delft, the Netherlands, this year from 12-14 May.
More about the history, the rules and the background can be found on the page of the organisers in Germany and the Netherlands.
Background by Freepik.com
The most important part of any canoe is, of course, a suitable formula. It should be impermeable to water, withstand the forces that occur both during competition and during transport, and have suitable workability depending on the type of canoe manufacture.
Most canoes are still conventionally formed, but here too there are differences in the form of the formwork. Modelled from GRP, frozen sand formwork, formwork milled into polystyrene products or classic formwork made of wooden planking are all conceivable. Canoes have also been made that consisted of several individual segments and were only pre-stressed on site. A completely 3D-printed canoe or a skeleton canoe with stringing have also already been spotted.
Although there is no prize for the best T-shirt in the Dutch competition, unlike in the German, an attractive design is essential for the external representation of the teaching institutions, as well as for the placement of sponsors - and of course we students want to look good too.
We are in the age of the internet and although it is still new territory for many, a proper presence there is becoming increasingly important. We therefore try to accompany the entire event all around with our website and on Instagram, from the first meetings to the concreting to the race weekend. Feel free to follow us during this time and write us for questions, criticism and suggestions.
Like most concrete components today, the concrete of concrete canoes usually has the help of a reinforcement to absorb the forces. However, this does not normally consist of the familiar reinforcing bars, but of wire nets, textile mats, mineral meshes or fibres. They all have in common the ability to absorb tensile loads and a good bond with the surrounding concrete.
Closely related to the way it is made and the sporting performance is the shape. It should lie well in the water, be streamlined, fast, but still easy to manoeuvre. In addition, the outer dimensions are still limited by the regulations. To bring all these aspects to an optimum is the goal and at the same time unattainable. So the aim is to achieve the best possible compromise between the factors.
In recent years, the ecological footprint of the construction industry, and especially of concrete production, has increasingly come into the public eye. To do justice to this, there is now also an award for the sustainability of a canoe. Whether it is a low cement content, recycled aggregate, concrete aggregate made from waste from other industries instead of new raw materials, reinforcement made from recycled materials or good reusability of the finished canoe, all technologies aimed at improving future generations of concrete are encouraged.
Last but not least - the most important aspect of the concrete canoe race is of course the performance in the sporting part of the regatta. Here, a team of two must complete the canoe as quickly as possible in competition with others over the given distance. The best of each heat then compete again in the intermediate heats up to the final heat. There can be one women's, one men's and one mixed team per canoe, whereby all athletes had to have been involved in the construction of the canoe in order to prevent distortion by bought-in athletes. The disciplines are the 50m, 100m and 200m sprints.
The University of Stuttgart with its ten faculties and 150 institutes, almost all of whose technical institutes are now located on the campus in Vaihingen, has a long history of civil engineering courses. This is where the majority of the participants in this year's regatta came from. In addition, the various mix designs of concrete and the interaction of concrete with different types of reinforcement were also examined here at the Materials Testing Institute.
The academy, known as the "Kunstakademie Stuttgart" for short, is one of the largest and also one of the oldest art academies in Germany with 20 degree programmes and is located in the Weißenhofsiedlung on Stuttgart's Killesberg. The art academy does not have a civil engineering course, yet some students of architecture strengthen our team from here.
The Hochschule für Technik Stuttgart can look back on a history of almost 190 years. It was founded in 1832 as a winter school for building craftsmen, where they could continue their education in the winter when they were not working. Since then, it has grown steadily to today's 3 faculties with 14 Bachelor's and 19 Master's degree programmes in the fields of architecture, civil engineering, mathematics and computer science.
Develop and test the concrete mix, select the reinforcement and calculate the forces and stresses that occur.
Design the shape of the canoe and consequently design the shape and type of formwork, as well as build the formwork.
In times of raw material shortages and rising prices, it is all the more necessary to convince sponsors in order to be able to realise the concrete canoe project.
The marketing team is in charge of the social media and website, has designed the logo and is responsible for the T-shirt, which is yet to be unveiled at the regatta ...
We are very pleased that the Ingenieurblatt Baden-Württemberg covers the preparation for the concrete canoe regatta of the DHBW Mosbach and the Team Betonkanu Stuttgart in the issue 1/2022.
