Bridging the gap between research and standards

Standards were developed and continued to exist to allow commerce. Minimum specifications are set for materials, and standard test methods are used to determine compliance with the specification limits. Materials specifications for cements and other concrete ingredients are referenced in concrete specifications, which are in turn referenced in building codes. A common complaint about standards is that they are not responsive to new research findings and lag behind new developments in materials and construction practices. However, standards do evolve over time as needs are seen to improve or add new tests methods or to set new specification limits. Another complaint is that historically prescriptive specifications should be switched to performance-based specifications so as not to limit development of alternative materials and construction methods. It should be noted that many standards writing organizations such as ASTM and CSA develop consensus standards, where volunteer members provide a balanced representation of a range of different interests, typically including both Producers and Users of a standard as well as General and Governmental agency interests. As a result of this balance, the wishes of one group alone can not unilaterally change standards against the majority interests. In this contribution, some both historical and recent developments in standards relating to cementitious materials are addressed, along with some thoughts on future directions. While some international standards are mentioned, it is acknowledged that this paper is largely limited to discussion of North American standards.