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

这个I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发传感技术，以便真实的实时准确监测基础设施状况。 美国的基础设施一直在恶化：在美国的600万座桥梁中，13.6%已经过时，9%存在结构缺陷，39%已经超过了设计寿命。全球结构监测市场预计将从2018年的15亿美元增加到2023年的34亿美元，复合年增长率为17.9%。开发具有成本效益和用户友好的传感技术对于建筑，维护和修复以监测混凝土强度和评估基础设施状况非常重要。 所提出的技术可以减少过早故障并降低基础设施建设/维护成本，节省建筑工人和通勤者的时间，通过限制现场操作来确保安全，并实现数据驱动的基础设施相关决策。 这有助于确保通勤者/旅行者和建筑工人的安全，并减少基础设施建设和维护的支出。该I-Corps项目基于开发用于实时监测混凝土强度的无线传感技术。混凝土等建筑材料的现场实时监测对我国基础设施的安全至关重要。然而，可用的非破坏性技术通常测量混凝土温度，并参考在实验室设置中开发的针对特定混凝土混合物的强度与温度信息的数据库来确定强度。相比之下，新开发的技术可以实时直接测量混凝土的现场强度。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.