I-Corps: Piezoelectric sensor for in-situ strength monitoring of infrastructure materials

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of sensing technology to accurately monitor infrastructure conditions in real time. U.S. infrastructure has been deteriorating: Of 6 million bridges in the United States, 13.6% are obsolete, 9% are structurally deficient, and 39% have exceeded their designed lifetimes.

The worldwide market for structural monitoring is estimated to increase to $3.4 billion in 2023 from $1.5 billion in 2018 at a compound annual growth rate of 17.9%. Development of cost-effective and user-friendly sensing technologies is important for construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation to monitor concrete strength and evaluate infrastructure condition.

The proposed technology may mitigate premature failure and reduce infrastructure construction/maintenance costs, save the time of construction workers and commuters, ensure safety by limiting in-field operations, and enabling data-driven infrastructure-related decisions. This may help to ensure the safety of commuters/travelers and construction workers and reduce expenditures on infrastructure construction and maintenance.

This I-Corps project is based on the development of a wireless sensing technology for real-time concrete strength monitoring. In-situ and real-time monitoring of construction materials, such as concrete, is crucial to the safety and security of our nation’s infrastructure. However, available non-destructive techniques typically measure concrete temperature and refer to a database of strength versus temperature information developed in lab settings for a specific concrete mix to determine the strength.

In contrast, the newly developed technology enables direct measurement of in-situ strength of concrete in real-time. Benefits include high accuracy, fast response, no need of data-base calibration, significantly reduced cost, and ease of implementation.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.