This Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) will study the use of MEMS devices as distributed and embedded sensors for highway material monitoring. MEMS sensors and telemetry systems will be put on a chip (0.5-in in diameter) and will be embedded into concrete and act as distributed sensors. The position of each individual smart aggregate in the concrete over time will be monitored remotely using radio frequency (RF). Each chip will contain different sensors to monitor concrete compaction quality, concrete stress distribution, concrete damage, moisture, temperature, chloride and sulfate concentrations, concrete curing and traffic history as well as telemetry and long-life powering systems. To the Principal Investigator's (PI) knowledge, the use of MEMS devices as wireless and as integrated sensing method for highway material monitoring has not yet been explored. In the first phase of this research, MEMS sensors for temperatures, chloride, stress and traffic flow monitoring will be embedded into concrete specimens to evaluate their responses under different test conditions and evaluate their durability during concrete curing. If successful, wireless monitoring techniques, including telemetry and long-life powering systems will be developed. The SGER is appropriate for this work because of its novelty, and because this work has elements of risk in that the MEMS sensing technique may not be well- suited for concrete materials because the MEMS sensors may not survive during the concrete curing, or the possibility that unforseen difficulties with such a sensing technique may arise. This resesearch will allow the PI to quickly evaluate the concept of embedding MEMS sensors into the concrete.
