Nondestructive Testing for Service Life Prediction of Reinforced Concrete Structures

We propose to build a practical, field-ready instrument that can determine the remaining life of reinforced concrete structures via the ultrasonic measurement of crack length. The Phase I prototype instrument not only measured crack lengths inside concrete beams, it was also sensitive enough to detect micro-cracks in the concrete (a world’s first), as well as interface failure between the mortar and the aggregate. The remaining life prediction algorithm that we developed required only the ultrasonic crack length measurement and the dimensions of the beam in order to work. We have submitted a patent disclosure through US Army ERDC-CERL on both the instrument and the technique. Our Phase II goal is to obtain a field instrument that will find military usage in the urban battlefield environment for remote building sensing applications and for assessing the stability of battle damaged structures; and it will find usage in civilian roles as a post-terrorist attack building assessment tool; as an Engineered Management Systems tool; as a deteriorating infrastructure life prediction tool; and as a concrete properties research tool. Our commercialization efforts are starting to pay off, as we have obtained Phase III commitment of support letters from companies.