This audio is automatically generated. Please let us know if you have any comments.
Dive Brief:
- A researcher at the Missouri University of Science and Technology has been granted a patent for a sensor that can detect small movements in composite materials and avoid the resulting structural problems, the institution announced on September 4.
- Genda Chen, a distinguished chair of civil engineering at the school in Rolla, Mo., created a device that uses a mirror attached to a fiber-optic cable about as thick as a human hair follicle to control materials. It can measure displacements as small as 1 micrometer or one thousandth of a millimeter.
- The sensor itself can be attached directly to the steel and concrete composites of a structure and is designed so that the mirror, which has a microscopic pattern, can use light and reflections in multiple ways to measure any displacement, or change in position, among the materials, according to the release.
Diving knowledge:
A key feature, Chen said at the launch, is the device’s non-destructive capabilities, as it is placed during material installation, movement is detected much earlier and engineers can act quickly to reattach materials .
Genda Chen
Courtesy of Missouri University of Science and Technology
As for any current analogues of this technology, Chen told Construction Dive via email that they are not there for builders.
“There is currently no similar tiny device that can be embedded in a composite structure to measure micrometer-level slip between two parts of the structure,” Chen wrote.
Chen won the patent with Jie Gao, a former Missouri S&T faculty member, and Chuanrui Guo, a Missouri S&T alumnus who earned a Ph.D. in civil engineering under the supervision of Chen. However, the device is still likely to be several years away from being commercialized and widely available, according to the release.
Outside of composite materials, the integrity of infrastructure projects has gained national attention: one in three bridges needs serious repairas weather events and intense heat continue to affect spaces across the country.
