Looking into concrete

The latest General Electric CTi Helical scanner has been used to reveal the hitherto hidden internal structure of concrete. High quality images have been obtained in which the concrete constituents and defects, such as pores and cracks, are clearly visible. Cube and notched cylindrical specimens, some of which have been subject to temperature or mechanical loading, have been used for the study. The results obtained demonstrate the immense potential of CT imaging for revealing the internal structure of coarse-grained non-homogeneous materials, such as concrete.