Currently the term shotcrete means ‘dynamically incorporated mortar or concrete’. However, the definition of the technique is not precise and it has been so since its beginning.
Shotcrete was originally called Gunite when Carl Ethan Akeley invented a doubled chambered Cement Gun to apply a sand-cement mixture in 1910.
Other trademarks were soon developed known as Guncrete, Pneucrete, Blastcrete, Jetcrete. It was only in 1930 that the official term ‘shotcrete’ appeared. It was introduced by the American Railway Engineering Association. In 1951 the American Concrete Institute adopted the name ‘shotcrete’ for the dry-mix process, as up to that time the term ‘shotcrete’ had been linked with the classical wet-mix method. Thanks to the Cement Gun Company of Allentown the technology was first implemented in Germany in 1921 and then in Great Britain in 1924. In 1991 there were discussions on terminology but it ended with no result. At present, different definitions are allowed due to language differences all over the world. Therefore, you can hear about projected, shot, and sprayed concrete.
In France for instance the technology is called ‘béton projeté’, while in the USA they refer to ‘shotcrete’. In Germany it is ‘Spritzbeton’ that is used and the British call it ‘sprayed concrete’. In Poland the name sprayed concrete is widely known; however, in the past, the term shotcrete was in use when referring to the patented technology called Vusokret.
It must be mentioned here that the term ‘sprayed concrete’ is more popular in Europe. It is also the official name used by EFNARC- European Federation for Producers and Applicators of Specialist Building Products. |
