Method and system for concrete quality control based on the concrete's maturity
View Patent ↗Method and system for controlling and monitoring the quality of concrete based on the concrete's maturity. Various embodiments of the present invention are discussed. First, Enhanced Maturity involves a maturity calibration method to account for the water-to-cementitious-materials ratio, air content, and gross unit weight of the concrete. Second, Moisture-Loss Maturity is a method for determining the appropriate time to terminate moisture-loss protection of concrete and concrete structures. Third, Improved Maturity is a method and system for determining the strength of curing concrete using improved maturity calculations. Fourth, SPC Maturity is a method that beneficially couples maturity measurements and calculations with Statistical Process Control (SPC) methods to enable rapid recognition of changes to the concrete mix and/or incompatibilities between the various components of the concrete mix. Fifth, Loggers, Readers, and Software represent the preferred embodiment for automating and simplifying the implementations of the aforementioned methods.
1. A logger capable of being positioned on or within a concrete mass, comprising:
one or more temperature sensors to measure physical properties of the concrete mass and to generate sensor data associated with the temperature of the concrete mass;
a memory device that receives and stores strength-maturity correlation data formed by varying the proportions of water-to-cementitious ratio, air content, and maturity data in a plurality of calibration batches and then obtaining strength measurements while breaking the calibration batches and also receiving and storing the relative proportions of water, cement, and air content;
a microprocessor which accesses the strength-maturity correlation data and receives the sensor data and calculates maturity data and mechanical strength data based on the strength-maturity correlation data and the relative proportions of the water, cement, and air content; and
an encasement enclosing the memory device and microprocessor.
2. The logger of claim 1 , further comprising one or more sensors that generate data by measuring moisture of the concrete mass.
3. The logger of claim 1 , further comprising one or more sensors that generate data by measuring the relative humidity of the concrete mass.
4. The logger of claim 1 , further comprising one or more sensors that generate data by measuring the electrical conductivity of the concrete mass.
5. The logger of claim 1 , further comprising one or more sensors that generate data by measuring pH of the concrete mass.
6. The logger of claim 1 , further comprising one or more ion selective sensors.
7. The logger of claim 1 , further comprising one or more thermal-conductivity sensors.
8. The logger of claim 1 , further comprising one or more oxidation-reduction potential sensors.
9. The logger of claim 1 , further comprising one or more acoustic velocity sensors.
10. The logger of claim 1 , wherein the one or more temperature sensors are thermistors.
11. The logger of claim 1 , wherein the encasement is formed from an elastic material.
12. The logger of claim 1 , wherein the encasement is formed from an elastomeric material.
13. The logger of claim 1 , wherein the encasement is formed from a hardened material.
14. The logger of claim 13 , wherein the hardened material is epoxy resin.
15. The logger of claim 13 , wherein the hardened material is polyester resin.
16. The logger of claim 1 , wherein the calibration batches are further comprised of low water/low air content, high water/low air content, low water/high air content, high water/high air content, and medium water/medium air content.
17. The logger of claim 1 , wherein the logger is powered by a battery source.