Developing Sensors and Techniques for Measuring Concrete Water/Cement Ratio and Smart Blending of Concrete

Cloud Cycle Ltd, led by Dr Emeso Ojo (project lead), Dr Mohamed Ismail (technical lead), Geraldine Hodges (commercial lead) and Dr Ed Waugh (engineering lead), is a UK concrete technology SME developing a cost-effective sensor monitoring system for the fresh concrete industry.

In ready-mixed concrete production, over-ordering by customers or ineffective quality control measures result in the return of unused fresh concrete to the batch plant. From a global perspective, it is estimated that around 1-13% of waste concrete is generated during construction, amounting to approximately £40 billion annually. Given the high CO2 emissions associated with concrete production (corresponding to about 7% of global emissions), concrete producers are constantly faced with the challenge to satisfy targets for waste minimization and resource efficiency.

Responding to this challenge, Cloud Cycle proposes developing a cost-effective monitoring system capable of measuring water-cement ratio, yield stress and plastic viscosity of fresh concrete. Material properties which are instrumental in the constructability (pour, compaction, finishing) and performance of concrete.