Nomadics Construction Labs has devised a concrete maturity testing system that it says helped contractors rebuild Oklahoma’s damaged I-40 bridge in less than 47 days.

According to the manufacturer, the IntelliRock maturity system quickly and accurately determines when a new concrete structure reaches required strength, allowing contractors to better plan the timing of subsequent construction activities without sacrificing quality or safety.

The IntelliRock maturity system was used on the recent I-40 bridge reconstruction. Traffic across the bridge was severed May 26, 2002, when a barge collided with the structure near Webbers Falls, OK, collapsing multiple spans into the Arkansas River.

Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) Resident Engineer Pete Byers said the decision to use IntelliRock was influenced by the success the Texas Department of Transportation had enjoyed using the technology in the past.

“When coupled with the high-early concrete used on the project, IntelliRock resulted in significant overall time savings, and enabled considerable acceleration of form removal operations,” Byers said.

As for TxDOT’s experience, lead inspector James Hill of the Dallas district said, “We’ve been using maturity with great success for the past seven years. TxDOT has been using the IntelliRock system exclusively on their SH-66 project since early 2002, and has found it to be rugged, reliable and easy to use.”

The IntelliRock maturity system consists of three components:

• a logger, which is an intelligent sensor that calculates maturity within the structure where it is placed

• a handheld reader used to communicate with an download maturity and temperature data from the loggers

• software that facilitates the downloading of data from the reader into secure , unalterable electronic files for distribution, documentation and analysis.

At the same time concrete is placed in the formwork, one or more IntelliRock maturity loggers are placed in the structure as well. The loggers process the time-temperature history of the structure and store the resulting maturity history of he concrete at the specific location of the logger.

As a result, the corresponding strength of the structure can be determined at any time.

The IntelliRock loggers function independently for up to two months, without permanent connection to any external devices. This arrangement allows multiple loggers to be controlled and accessed by a single handheld reader, making the system useful at multiple sites, and eliminating system damage and lost data from vandalism, theft and other jobsite hazards.

Founded in 1994, Nomadics Inc., headquartered in Stillwater, OK, develops technology used in sensors, instrumentation, wireless communications and related devices.

The company maintains offices in Oklahoma City, and in Cambridge, MA.

For more information, call or visit www.nomadicsconstruction.com.

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