“NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP” IN THE CONCRETE CANOE CHALLENGE WON BY “KONGU ENGINEERING COLLEGE” – STUDENTS CHAPTER OF INDIA CHAPTER OF ACI

Dr.Sandeep Sancheti Vice Chancellor of SRM Institute of Technology giving National Championship to Ottrai Odam Team from Kongu Engineering College

Students’ Chapter of India Chapter of ACI at “Kongu Engineering College” has participated in Two Days “National Concrete Canoe Challenge 2019” held on 5th & 6th October 2019 organised by American Society for Civil Engineers Student Chapter at SRM Institute of Technology, Chennai.  Across the country, 19 teams have participated in the two days conference.

From Kongu Engineering College, “Ottrai Odam” (a single rower canoe) team of 8 members has participated in this conference.  The team was headed by Er. Suresh Kumar, CPWD, Chennai and Dr. G. S. Rampradheep, Associate Professor in Civil Engineering.

Main aim of conference was to produce a Concrete Canoe of 2m x 0.80m x 0.40m in dimensions with the width and depth adjustable by candidate’s own choice and design of materials.  The team has made different designs and produced a ultra-light weight concrete Canoe of 2m x 0.54m x 0.375m with just 10.50 kg.,  Whereas other teams have made about an average of 70 kg.

It was evaluated by various experts like ASCE Southern Region President, Treasurer and Professors from IIT Madras and analyzed the capacity of teams by conducting oral examinations, rowing of canoe, report analysis etc., and came out with the results.

Total marks allotted for the event was 1000, of which 750 marks for Viva-voce and 250 marks for rowing. As it’s a single rowing canoe, each team has to row 70m in a channel containing stagnant water.

“Ottrai Odam” team crossed the destination within 42 seconds whereas the average crossing time taken by other teams was found to be 1 minute. Based on the cumulative analysis, “Ottrai Odam” team won the “National Championship” in the Concrete Canoe Challenge and received Trophy at the hands of Dr. Sandeep Sancheti, Vice Chancellor of SRM Institute of Technology.