United States Department of Transportation
i
Development of a real-time vibrator tracking system for intelligent concrete consolidation.
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2014-01-01
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Abstract:Proper consolidation of concrete is critical to the long-term strength of concrete bridge structures. Vibration
is a commonly used method to make concrete flowable and to remove the excessive entrapped air, therefore
contributing to proper concrete consolidation. To introduce vibrations to freshly placed concrete, various tools
such as internal vibrators are widely used in the construction industry. Producing a dense concrete without
segregation with these tools requires an experienced vibrator operator. Inexperienced vibrator operators tend to
over-consolidate or under-consolidate concrete. Many of these quality problems have their roots in the lack of
quality control methods that can provide real-time feedback on the quality of concrete consolidation to vibrator
operators. The proposed research developed a real-time wireless sensing-based internal vibrator tip tracking
system to support intelligent concrete consolidation operations. The research team explored the use of an Ultra
Wideband (UWB) tracking system to realize precise localization of the tip of an internal vibrator. A series of
indoor and outdoor experiments are conducted to validate and model the tracking accuracy. A visualization
program was developed to visualize operators’ vibration effort in real-time. More specifically, the program is
capable of displaying vibration location and time in real-time. A vibrator operator can leverage such information
to visualize the distribution of his vibration effort, and spot areas that may need mitigation actions. The new
concrete consolidation tool will allow contractors to proactively address concrete consolidation issues, a problem
common to many concrete construction projects.
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