The Thermal Integrity Profiler (TIP) uses the heat generated by curing cement to assess the quality of drilled shafts and of bored, augered cast-in-place, continuous flight auger or drilled displacement piles. It may also be used for quality assurance and shape evaluation of jet grouting, slurry walls, and diaphragm walls. TIP evaluates the entire cross-section and the entire length of the foundation. Results are available shortly after shaft installation is concluded: TIP reveals necking or inclusions (regions that are colder than average), bulges (regions that are warmer than average), variations in concrete cover, and the shape of the shaft and cage alignment
TIP data is collected by the Thermal Wire Cable system which includes cables fitted with digital thermal sensors spaced along the cable length and TAP-Edge acquisition ports. The Thermal Wire cables are attached to the reinforcing cage prior to concreting. In general, one cable is installed per each 305 mm (1 ft) of shaft diameter. A TAP-Edge is connected to each Thermal Wire cable, and automatically samples data from that cable at user selected time intervals, typically every 15 minutes. Temperatures obtained throughout the concrete curing process are saved in each TAP-Edge, and may be viewed at any time, via a Thermal Aggregator (TAG) data upload to a secure Cloud server. The expected temperature at any location is dependent on the shaft diameter, mix design, time of measurement, and distance to the center of the shaft. Sending the data via a cellular modem to the Cloud, TAG allows engineers, designers and the contractor to see the data all at once, in real time, from any location.
The Thermal Integrity Profiler offers:
- Evaluation of concrete quality inside and outside of the reinforcing cage
- Accelerated construction with tests conducted during concrete curing
- Real-time data review via the Cloud
To learn more about the Thermal Integrity Profiler, visit www.pile.com.
