The 3rd National Concrete Pontoon Competition 2015 (CPC 2015) which was held at Dewan Tunku Mahkota Ismail, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn (UTHM) on 26-27 April 2015 has successfully ended. It was held with the objectives to develop creative work in designing and building of concrete structures and to promote a culture of sustainability by using waste materials.
The competition was jointly organized by Jamilus Research Center (JRC), Concrete Society of Malaysia (CSM) and Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering (FKAAS). Altogether there were a total of 57 teams from public and private universities, polytechnics, industries and matriculation colleges had taken part in this competition including Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), INTI University Malaysia, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn (UTHM), Politeknik Ungku Omar (PUO), SIKA and others.
Each team had to produce two concrete cubes (150 cubic millimeters) and one concrete pontoon (500 mm x 500 mm with height of 100 mm). The cubes were tested in the compressive test and the concrete pontoon was tested to the maximum load before submerging it in the water. The evaluation was based on 4 parts: poster design, poster presentation, cube strength and applied load. Most of the participated teams had fulfilled the minimum requirements of exceeding 2.5MPa for the compressive strength of the cubes and a minimum load of 5 kg for the pontoon.
Faculty of Civil Engineering, UTM sent a total of 12 teams, and were advised by Dr. Abdullah Zawawi Awang ( 1 team), Dr. Mohd Azreen Mohd Ariffin ( 1 team), Dr. Ma Chau Khun ( 1 team), Dr. Tan Cher Siang ( 1 team), Prof. Dr. Mohammad Ismail (1 team), En. Nawawi Mohd Salleh (1 team), En Raja Ezar Ishamuddin (1 team), Dr. Ramadanshah (2 teams) and Dr. Mohd Yunus Ishak (3 teams). Once again FKA has made us proud by winning the first place award in Industry and Staff Category and third place award in Student Category.
Congratulations and great efforts to all the winners in the competition. All FKA teams had displayed an outstanding spirit in the competition and we believed that they have learned a lot throughout the competition in communication skills, creativity, innovative, teamwork and critical thinking in problem solving. Hard work that was paid off will surely turn into the precious experiences in the future. Not to be forgotten the help and advice from all the FKA staff who were involved in this competition, a warm thank you to all of you.
Prepared by: Dr. Mohd Yunus Ishak