Dive Brief:

• Researchers in Germany have come up with a way to use information from a CT scan of a concrete core to calculate the material's strength.
• A computer uses probability to figure out how steel fibers mixed into the concrete have distributed.
• The CT scan data also allows for analysis of how the fibers are oriented in the matrix, which affects suitability of the concrete for directional stresses, such as bridges carrying loads.

Dive Insight:

The research was done at Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM in Kaiserslautern, Germany. The scientists who came up with the technique were hoping to make fiber-reinforced concrete acceptable in the construction industry as a faster alternative to building rebar frames and pouring concrete in to those forms. Their next step is to develop an on-site screening unit that's a manageable size.