Dive Brief:
- Scientists at North Carolina State University and the University of Eastern Finland have devised a system that uses painted-on electrical "skin" to detect cracks in concrete structures.
- The researchers see the invention as a way to discover problems beginning in critical structures such as waste-storage sites, but it could easily be used on any structure.
- The device uses electrodes applied across a concrete surface, then covered with a conductive paint that carries different currents between electrodes when the concrete beneath it is intact and when it is damaged.
Dive Insight:
Working from a base map of conductivity all across the structure surface when any two electrodes are powered up, the system's computer can report when and where the damage has been detected.