Ottawa tech entrepreneurs are developing a slate of devices that not only makes concrete testing faster, but also cheaper.
Giatec Scientific was founded in 2010 by Aali Alizadeh and Pouria Ghods, PhDs in civil engineering from the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. Building on the founders’ extensive research and development expertise in concrete corrosion and analysis, the company has since developed and marketed technologies that test the quality of concrete at the pre-construction phase, and the potential longevity of concrete in existing structures.
Giatec recently assisted the Ontario Provincial Police by bringing its technologies to bear on the forensic examination into the collapse of the Algo Centre Mall in Elliott Lake.
“Concrete is a porous material and the pores that are connected to each other provide a path for aggressive ions such as chlorides to penetrate and degrade the structure,” says Alizadeh, CEO of Giatec. “By decreasing the size and connectivity of those pores, the quality and longevity of the concrete is increased, but this has to be tested at the pre-construction stage.”
During a concrete pour, sample cylindrical concrete cores are taken to test for compressive strength. The Giatec RCON can non-destructively test the same sample for electrical resistivity by passing an alternating current through it — the lower the porosity of the concrete, the greater the electrical resistance.
“The concept of electrical resistance testing has been well researched and established for some time,” says Alizadeh.
“What we bring to the table is to bring the price of an accurate testing device from an average of $30,000 for a sophisticated tool down to a $5,000 user-friendly device with a five-second turnaround. Instead of having to collect the data and process it using a computer, our device is a standalone unit. It’s a practical and easy-to-use design that we’re aiming directly at the construction market.”
The device is currently being employed on behalf of Ottawa’s Storm Internet Services. The company is pouring 20 six-ton concrete support pads as part of a 45-tower expansion of its wireless Internet services.
The big buzz surrounding the company’s offerings, however, concerns the Giatec iCOR, which offers a new technique for assessing the condition of existing concrete structures, such as buildings, bridges, overpasses, and pipes.
“Current concrete inspection methods are neither accurate nor efficient,” says Alizadeh. “We’re offering a new proprietary technology in the form of a hand-held device that can non-destructively measure the corrosion rate of rebar in concrete structures ranging from overpasses to parking garages to sewage pipes.”
The testing device requires access to the rebar network at just one point in the structure. Within 20 seconds, the device processes the data on board using a proprietary algorithm, then provides a series of data outputs, including the rate at which corrosion is propagating — for example, how many millimetres of rebar thickness will be lost over time.
“While there are other factors that can accelerate concrete failure, rate of corrosion is the most important parameter in evaluating the service life of a concrete structure,” says Alizadeh. “iCOR can assist engineers to predict the service life of the concrete before it delaminates and pinpoint exactly where repairs are needed.”
The iCOR device is currently being employed in consulting projects and will be available for sale in 2013.
“Our goal is to see iCOR technology built right into critical infrastructure as a sensor, so that it can monitor the condition of concrete structures on an ongoing basis,” says Alizadeh.
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