{"id":11340,"date":"2014-04-01T01:00:53","date_gmt":"2014-04-01T06:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?p=11340"},"modified":"2016-06-29T15:58:12","modified_gmt":"2016-06-29T20:58:12","slug":"at-long-last-a-concrete-thats-nearly-maintenance-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/at-long-last-a-concrete-thats-nearly-maintenance-free\/","title":{"rendered":"At long last: A concrete that\u2019s nearly maintenance-free"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Konstantin<\/a>
Konstantin Sobolev (right) and doctoral student Scott Muzenski get ready to attach wiring to a test sample of a \u201csmart\u201d concrete composite they developed that has a life span of more than 120 years. (Photo by Troye Fox<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To Scott Muzenski, the large crack that weather and wear had caused in the driveway of a parking structure at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (51ÁÔÆæ) presented an opportunity to test his research.<\/p>\n

Muzenski, a civil engineering graduate student, had been working on a new kind of high-performance concrete created in the lab of associate professor Konstantin Sobolev. Their cement composite is a durable, water-resistant and malleable paving material with such a high level of \u201ccrack control\u201d that the researchers estimate it has a service life of 120 years or more.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The concrete composite these 51ÁÔÆæ researchers developed is \u201csuperhydrophobic\u201d \u2013 water just beads up and repels off it rather than pooling.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To compare, the average life span of concrete roads in Wisconsin falls in the 40-50-year range, with up to 10 percent of reinforced bridge decks needing replacement after 30 years.<\/p>\n

In August, a crew of 25 students joined Muzenski in patching the driveway using the unique material. Then, in order to track whether the material was indeed holding up better than ordinary concrete, they gave the 4-by-15-foot slab the ability to monitor its own performance.<\/p>\n

About an inch below the surface, the students embedded electrodes in this \u2018smart\u2019 concrete that are linked to a data acquisition system located behind an adjacent retaining wall. \u201cThis is going to tell us whether water is getting into the material and how deep it goes,\u201d says Muzenski. \u201cIt also detects the presence of chloride ions within the material, and senses load and stress as vehicles pass over it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later this year when the software is completed, the real-time data will be fed wirelessly to an online repository.<\/p>\n

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Video by Chris Baylor
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