Imagine giving large concrete structures something similar to an ultrasound and getting images so detailed you can see cracks just a tenth of a millimeter long. That level of detail just isn’t possible now. Yet such capability could revolutionize how engineers assess the health of thick reinforced concrete infrastructure like dams and power plants and bridges.
A leading standards-setting transportation organization has named a project by Georgia Tech and Georgia Department of Transportation researchers one of the year’s most valuable. The work developed a new steel to reinforce concrete bridge piles in marine environments that withstands corrosion and lasts well beyond the expected 100-year lifespan of the structures.
Through a grant provided by the National Science Foundation, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are testing retrofits that potentially can make very common reinforced-concrete buildings safer and more secure.
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Mason Building, 790 Atlantic Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332-0355
Phone: 404-894-2201
Fax: 404-894-2278