SBIR-STTR Award

Currently nuclear-based gauges are the most widely used equipment in the construction industry to measure moisture and density of pavement materials. Such measurements are very accurate, rapid, and non-destructive. Attempts to replace these nuclear methods by non-nuclear methods have shown strong limitations. For this project, we propose to integrate nuclear and seismic technologies to measure the engineering characteristics of concrete such as strength and thickness based on elemental analysis, density, and modulus. The method relies on nuclear neutron induced gamma ray spectroscopic analysis techniques to obtain hydrogen content, water-to-cement ratio (W/C ratio), density, and atomic fingerprints, and seismic wave propagation to obtain modulus, thickness in situ. It is nondestructive and although not instantaneous, is relatively fast. A series of tests and comparisons are to be performed authenticating the theory and a practical method and apparatus is proposed. The proposed system relies on nuclear backscatter techniques and surface wave measurements for nondestructive analysis. Signal processing techniques are incorporated to optimize the solutions and classify the concrete material aiding field analysis of concrete structures. The proposed method is portable and designed for low power consumption. Commercialization possibilities include quality control and maintenance diagnostics of walls, piers, bridges, tunnels and roads.

Keywords:
Atomic Spectroscopy, Seismic Surface Waves, Concrete Strength, Modulus, Density, Thickness