| GLOBAL INNOVATION |
WORLD-FIRST FORENSIC TOOL FOR FIRE-DAMAGED CONCRETE STRUCTURE When concrete is exposed to intense fire, materials in the concrete can decompose, leading to a deterioration of strength. Yet there is no widely accepted method of evaluating this damage, making the choice between repair and demolition difficult. Now a team of researchers, led by Dr Youngsun Heo of the Korean Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT), have developed the Fire Forensic Investigation of Structure (F2IS) tool that can answer the question. “After fire exposure, service life of concrete structure can drop within two weeks, depending on the damage level,” says Heo. “The higher the volume of pores in concrete arising from fire, the faster the dramatic reduction of life expectancy. If the structure isn't going to be rebuilt, immediate diagnosis and subsequent repairing work should be proceeded even when there's minor damage.” By taking tiny 1-2g samples for every 10mm of depth of fire-damaged concrete, F2IS can predict the impacts of the fire – such as temperature, length of time spent in the heat and how heat diffused through the structure – with 80% accuracy. Using this data and deep learning, the tool assesses which key features to address that embrace a series of protocols involving practical sampling design (PSD), experimental design (ED) for selecting appropriate chemical devices for analysing specific samples, chemical profiling algorithm (CPA) for singling out key features from chemical results; and a deep learning interface algorithm (DIA) for comparing CPA results and standard data pre-stored in a large data platform. It takes less than two weeks to complete. The patent for F2IS was approved earlier this year (August). The team plans to develop a rehabilitation system that can chemically cure the decomposed hydration products to fill in the cracks and help the structure recover. Citations: Concrete Institute of Australia and Cosmos (Above, from left): With a portable hand-drilling device, samples of only 1-2g are being taken at every 10mm depth, up to 40mm so that the least damage to the concrete specimen is achieved.
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PRECAST | ISSUE FOUR | 2021
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