U.S. researchers investigate potential new aid to structural stability

The structural failure injury attorneys at Denena Points, PC remark that transportation experts have been calling attention to the aging U.S. highway infrastructure over recent years. Especially in bridges and elevated portions of the interstates, wear and tear caused by aging materials and long use by heavy trucks have led to weaknesses in these structures that hold the potential for eventual collapse.

Sudden structural collapses, like the failure of the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis in 2007, can result in multiple deaths and severe injuries. The Minneapolis bridge collapse injured 145 people and killed 13.

Rebuilding, repairing, and replacing the entire aging infrastructure that needs attention is beyond the budgetary capacity of any government even in its wildest dreams. So researchers have been looking at possible alternatives that could help stabilize the infrastructure and provide structural stability in the absence of complete repair and replacement.

Our structural failure injury attorneys note that one promising new tool in the battle against aging infrastructure appears to be the carbon nanotube composite. Researchers at the University of Delaware’s Center for Composite Materials are collecting data on a carbon nanotube hybrid glass-fiber composite.

Attached to small-scale concrete beams, this very thin composite material formed a continuous, conductive “smart skin.” Researchers found the composite skin to be unusually sensitive to changes in strain as well as to the development and growth of damage.

So the carbon nanotube composite forms not only a thin skin that is exceptionally strong for its size, but also an early warning system that could alert transportation officials to impending structural failures and collapses and thus save lives. The skin can serve as either a Structural Health Monitoring System or a form of damage repair. Or both.

The structural failure injury attorneys at Denena Points, PC emphasize that one great advantage of the composite carbon nanotube sensors is their minute size. They can penetrate between fibers of yarn bundles or between the plies of fiber composite. The nanotubes integrate completely into an advanced fiber composite system, providing strength and functionality without taking away from the structure with which they bond. So the carbon nanotube composite can be effectively bonded to existing structures of any shape or size or built into new structure. (Source: Diane Kukich, University of Delaware, Nanowerk News, 9/18/12)

The aging U.S. highway infrastructure needs innovative approaches to monitoring and enhancing structural stability in order to avoid other potential disasters like the Minneapolis bridge collapse. Read about the dangers posed by aging infrastructure in this article by our structural failure injury attorneys.