News Detail

Tech in Concrete

12/1/2022

The holiday season is upon us, and it’s the time of year when we exchange gifts or treat ourselves to new things. High on the list for many people each year are new gadgets, in particular, the latest mobile phones and electronic appliances, smart home devices such as home voice controllers, doorbell cams, smart locks, and smart light switches. While it might not be obvious to most consumers, most of these gadgets are Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

IoT refers to a network of devices that are connected to the internet and the technology that enables communication between them and also with the cloud. As noted by Statista, IoT devices use sensors and processors to collect and analyze data acquired from their environments. The data collected from the sensors are then sent to a gateway or to other IoT devices and analyzed in the cloud or locally. Statista forecasts that there will be more than 75 billion IoT-connected devices in use by 2025, a fivefold increase from 2015 and a threefold increase from 2019. The data volume created by IoT connections is projected to reach a staggering total of 79.4 zettabytes! To put it in perspective, one zettabyte is equal to a trillion gigabytes. Statista also forecasts that global spending on IoT will reach $1.1 trillion by 2023.

What a perfect segue to what’s going on in the concrete industry today—specifically, with the use of technology in concrete! This year-end President’s Memo will highlight various technologies that are redefining and transforming concrete construction, with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, concrete sensors, and additive manufacturing.

A concrete producer will typically have core mixture designs for different concrete classes. As these designs get tweaked as needed to meet the needs of specific projects within the producer’s service area, a producer may develop hundreds, if not thousands, of concrete mixture designs. This practice may not be optimal from a sustainable perspective, and it has created a space for the use of AI and machine learning to automate data collection and optimize local materials for sustainable and more cost-efficient concrete. These AI systems have the ability to optimize and validate a concrete mixture in days rather than months. This approach is helping concrete producers to develop more advanced, cost-effective, durable, and sustainable concrete mixtures with a lower CO₂ footprint.

While optimizing and producing a sustainable concrete mixture is the first step, maintaining the integrity of the fresh concrete—specifically, slump and air content—during transport to a jobsite can be a challenge for quality control personnel. Technology in the form of in-transit monitoring systems is available to help concrete producers improve efficiency, eliminate rejected loads, and reduce concrete waste. Sensors in these systems are mounted on concrete trucks and collect real-time data that are uploaded to the cloud and allow producers to monitor, measure, and manage fresh concrete properties during transit to the jobsite.

After the concrete is delivered and placed, concrete maturity sensors measure and log concrete temperature history, calculate maturity, and evaluate in-place strength. They include fully autonomous data collection options to collect and access concrete data remote from the jobsite. With the current focus on low-carbon concrete, early-age strength development has come into sharper focus, resulting in increased interest in these in-place maturity systems. Although maturity systems have been available for decades, IoT has recently accelerated growth in their availability, functionality, and use!

Nearly 40 years ago, I got exposed to computer numeric control (CNC) milling machines and was amazed by how quickly and precisely the notched metal steel coupons that I needed for my PhD research work could be manufactured using a CNC machine. Fast forward to today, and it’s amazing to see how three-dimensional concrete printing (3-DCP) is transforming the concrete industry. It’s a marvel to see the various types of printers that are being developed and their use in the construction, layer by layer, of new shapes previously not possible using conventional construction techniques. Many of these machines are capable of printing one-story walls for houses, and one has been sized and used to construct the walls for the world’s first 3-D-printed three-story building in Germany!

I believe this is an exciting time to be in the concrete industry as we witness the infusion of technology from concrete batching through construction. I wish you all a happy, relaxing, and safe holiday season!

Charles K. Nmai