Please join us in celebrating the induction of William Denison, CCPf, as an American Concrete Institute Fellow (FACI).
An ACI Fellow is an individual who has made “outstanding contributions to the production or use of concrete materials, products and structures in the areas of education, research, development, design, construction or management.”
William currently serves as the Construction Materials Testing Department Manager for the ECS Chesapeake office and has more than 35 years of experience with advanced concrete technology. He has extensive experience in 300+ year service life marine designs. William is a pioneer in pervious concrete design and his research has been published in STP 1551 Pervious Concrete – ASTM International. His designs for the drilled tunnels in Hampton Roads are designed to be crack free, low shrinkage, and rapid chloride permeabilities during production averaging less than 150 coulombs. William has been teaching Civil Engineering Technologies as an Adjunct Professor at Tidewater Community College for the past 30 years. He is Vice-Chairman on the Board of Advisors for Civil Engineering Technologies with Tidewater Community College and Old Dominion University, and he serves as an Advisor for Old Dominion University ASCE Student Chapter.
We talked with William to learn what inspires him.
What does it mean for you to be inducted as a Fellow?
It’s an honor to be recognized for the achievements in advanced concrete technology for durability, longevity, and sustainability with continued mentoring of Fellow members and students.
Where’s your favorite place in the world?
Vacationing on Ocracoke Island NC, home of Black Beard (the pirate).
What are you passionate about?
Educating and teaching Materials Engineering as an Adjunct professor through the Virginia Community College System to help develop students in understand the mechanical and non-mechanical properties of various materials with advanced concrete designs for extended durability and longevity and how they work together with varying thermal properties.
What’s the coolest thing you’re working on right now?
The specialty design, and durability testing of the crack free concrete for tunnel segments, which involves 120,000 cubic yards of the 300+ year service life, crack free, and corrosion free concrete for 8000 linear feet of drilled tunnel at the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, between Norfolk and Hampton VA.
What’s the most exciting project you ever worked on and why?
The Design and Control of concrete for the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse move in Buxton, NC. Knowing that the Lighthouse would permanently be supported on a structural concrete foundation probably for the life of the lighthouse that I helped materials design and test for Cape Hatteras National Seashore, and the Department of the Interior.
What’s an accomplishment that you’re proud of?
The ability to revamp a concrete’s mix design to enable the concrete to have a service life that exceeds 300+ years. Stop and think about it – if you need a water or sewage bearing structural concrete tank below grade, or a tunnel that needs to carry a roadway beneath a large body of water, or a bridge that carries families over a river, you certainly want to create a concrete mixture that will be impermeable to deterioration caused by Alkali Silica Reactivity or sulfate attack. Imagine a concrete design that achieves what is essentially an impermeable concrete that fosters a 300+ year service life with no corrosion.