Developing Sensors and Techniques for Measuring Concrete Water/Cement Ratio and Smart Blending of Concrete

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Cloud Cycle Ltd, led by Dr Emeso Ojo (project lead), Dr Mohamed Ismail (technical lead), Geraldine Hodges (commercial lead) and Dr Ed Waugh (engineering lead), is a UK concrete technology SME developing a cost-effective sensor monitoring system for the fresh concrete industry.In ready-mixed concrete production, over-ordering by customers or ineffective quality control measures result in the return of unused fresh concrete to the batch plant. From a global perspective, it is estimated that around 1-13% of waste concrete is generated during construction, amounting to approximately £40 billion annually. Given the high CO2 emissions associated with concrete production (corresponding to about 7% of global emissions), concrete producers are constantly faced with the challenge to satisfy targets for waste minimization and resource efficiency.Responding to this challenge, Cloud Cycle proposes developing a cost-effective monitoring system capable of measuring water-cement ratio, yield stress and plastic viscosity of fresh concrete. Material properties which are instrumental in the constructability (pour, compaction, finishing) and performance of concrete.