Case Study: a South African construction company speeds arch bridge construction with Giatec SmartRock sensors

South African Construction Company - Customer Case Study

A South African construction company was building a critical arch bridge and faced challenges with its strict schedule, which was made more urgent by the need to keep a nearby older bridge open to traffic. The company needed a way to accurately determine when the concrete in the new bridge's arches reached its target strength of 50 MPa so it could remove forms and proceed with construction faster. To address this, the company experimented with Giatec's SmartRock wireless sensors and the concrete maturity method.

By embedding Giatec's SmartRock sensors directly into the concrete, the team could monitor its temperature and strength development in real-time. This solution revealed that the in-situ concrete gained strength faster than lab-cured samples, allowing the contractor to safely strip forms 1.5 to 2.5 days earlier per section. The implementation of Giatec's technology projected potential total schedule savings of up to 14 days, leading to immense cost savings on labor and equipment while also improving quality assurance.