Bridges and roads made of intelligent concrete can cure themselves when broken

The laboratory of Professor Luna Lu , Purdue University, USA is developing technology that allows bridges and paved highways to accurately notify when they need to be repaired and equipped with the right materials. self-repair work.

In 2019, Professor Lu cooperates with Indiana State Department of Transportation to embed the three sensors her lab develops into the highway here. Data from sensors is helping to suggest the best time to open traffic flow and constantly monitor the condition of the road. Ms. Lu's team is working with the Federal Highway Administration to deploy these sensors in other states.

An experiment showed that concrete healed itself within 28 days. (Photo: Purdue University).

At the same time, Professor Lu and her lab are developing a way to help concrete repair itself. Self-healing concrete will be especially useful in harsh winters. For roads in the US Midwest, winters cause concrete to freeze and thaw periodically. When the temperature drops below 0 degrees Celsius, water molecules on the road surface freeze and expand, causing concrete cracks in the winter.

Professor Lu's lab is working on different types of sand-like, highly porous materials called internal curing agents that can be mixed into concrete. When concrete cracks, these solids together with water will create chemical reactions to seal cracks, heal wounds for concrete. The self-healing process also prevents water from infiltrating into concrete and corroding the reinforcement.

Professor Luna Lu is studying unique ways to apply artificial intelligence when building bridges and highways, allowing them to repair their own failures. (Photo: Purdue University).

By using these self-healing materials , we can adapt the infrastructure to temperature changes, says Professor Lu, a scholar of the American Concrete Association of Pavement in Materials Science. material and concrete pavement said.

Professor Lu and other researchers are also thinking about how smart infrastructure can influence and adapt to human behavior and drive traffic flow. It is common to think of heavy traffic as adding lanes, but artificial intelligence and big data can identify the lane used and move traffic in that direction. 'We are developing technology that allows better traffic control without the need for additional lanes,' Ms. Lu said.

Smart infrastructure is a new field. Through partnerships with other universities, Professor Lu is gathering researchers and the resources needed to enable the development of this type of infrastructure on a large scale.

Lu directs the Center for Smart Infrastructure, which links the expertise of Purdue researchers in a number of different disciplines including materials, sensors and artificial intelligence. She is also helping to set up the first smart infrastructure group in the Midwest by partnering with several state transport departments.