Wireless nano sensors could save bridges and buildings

A little gee-whiz techno-speculation from Space Mart: Could inexpensive wireless sensors based on nanotechnology be used to alert engineers to problematic cracks and damage to buildings, bridges, and other structures before they become critical? A feasibility study published in the International Journal of Materials and Structural Integrity would suggest so.

Mohamed Saafi of the Department of Construction Engineering and Management, at North Dakota State University, in Fargo, and colleagues at the National Institute of Applied Sciences, in Tunisia, together with a team at the Department of Engineering Technology, at Alabama A and M University, point out that civil structures are prone to continuous and uncontrollable damage processes during their designed service lifespan. These damaging processes might be due to weather, aging of materials, earth tremors, and a lack of maintenance.

A continuous monitoring system is needed to improve safety. Unfortunately, the costs and required time expenditure often mean monitoring is not carried out in a timely manner and trivial problems, such as small cracks and fissures, ultimately become serious conditions that threaten the integrity of a structure. The researchers suggest that nanotechnology and wireless systems could be the answer.

…Long gauge nanotube sensors were employed for crack detection in the feasibility study. MEMS and nanosensors have already been used in a wide range of engineering and science fields such as transportation, communication, military and medicine. Their use in civil engineering is a new application with great potential.

"If designed properly, wireless MEMS and nanotechnology-based sensors could be used as embedded components to form self-sensing concrete structures," the team explains….

On the Brooklyn Bridge in 2005, shot by Victoria, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license