Underground Infrastructure - February 2023 - 30

Center for Innovative Grouting Materials and Technology
CIGMAT Report
CIGMAT Focuses Research
On Real-Time Monitoring
C. Vipulanandan (Vipu), Ph.D., P.E.
Real-time monitoring of materials mixing, various critical processes
during construction, entire service life of various infrastructures,
and detecting and quantifying corrosion for maintenance
are some of the main focus areas of CIGMAT.
Th e research studies and various presentations at conferences
and workshops are related to oil, gas, water and wastewater
infrastructures, bridges, foundations, pipelines and grouted
soils. Additional interests include recycling of wastewaters,
recycling of plastics, recycling of waste materials, treating contaminated
soils and the impact of COVID-19 virus.
Th e goals are achieved by developing new highly sensing
smart materials integrated with real-time monitoring and wireless
transferring for construction, maintenance, repairs and
detecting gas, oil and water leaks using the recently received
U.S. Patent on " Chemo-Th ermo-Piezoresistive Highly Sensing
Smart Cement with Integrated Real-Time Monitoring System "
(Number 10,481,143).
Current CIGMAT projects are developing real-time monitoring
systems for both laboratory research and fi eld applications
related to both onshore and off shore. Some of the studies
are focused on monitoring fi eld performances (smart cemented
well, bridges supported on deep foundations); developing and
characterizing smart cements, smart grouts and smart drilling
muds for oil well and water well construction and cementing;
ultra-deepwater pipe-soil interaction; and joint leak testing of
stormwater pipes.
Other studies include detection and quantifi cation of corrosion,
which recently received a U.S. Patent on " Rapid Detection
and Quantifi cation of Surface and Bulk Corrosion and Erosion
in Metallic and Non-metallic Materials with Integrated
Monitoring System " (Number 10,690,586), application of
nanotechnology, and environmental issues.
CIGMAT researchers have developed unique testing facilities,
such as high-pressure and high-temperature (HPHT) testing of
materials for oil and gas infrastructure applications, and test protocols
approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to
test grouts and coatings for infrastructure rehabilitation. In addition,
the Life Cycle Cost model (CIGMAT-LCC) for wastewater
systems is being used by cities, counties and the public.
30 FEBRUARY 2023 | UndergroundInfrastructure.com
Over the past two decades, over fi ve dozen commercial
products including rapid repair materials, coatings, grouts, liners,
cementitious and polymer composites and pipes, have been
researched and tested for a number of applications. Microbial
fuel cell technology is being further developed to treat both
oily waste and recycle highly salty fracturing fl uids. Also, the
observed trends are analytically and numerically modeled to
bett er understand the infl uence of various types of organic and
inorganic contaminants and environmental parameters with
the fi eld operating conditions.
Th e Vipulanandan rheological model, Vipulanandan failure
model, Vipulanandan fl uid fl ow model and Vipulanandan
fl uid loss mode are being verifi ed with CIGMAT test results
and data available in the literature. Every eff ort is made by the
CIGMAT researchers to transfer technology from control
studies to actual applications.
For real-time monitoring of the materials and infrastructures
performances in the fi eld, it is very important to identify
the material electrical property that can be selected for
monitoring. At the CIGMAT research laboratory a new material
characterization model has been developed using the
two probes with the impedance-frequency response and the
Vipulanandan Impedance Model to identify the critical property
that can be selected for monitoring. At present, this method
is being used to characterize various natural and human
made materials including fl uids.
Ongoing research at CIGMAT is funded by federal, state
and local agencies and industries. CIGMAT is working on
a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and National Science
Foundation (NSF)-I Corp funded projects on broadening and
commercializing the applications of smart cement and smart
drilling mud for real-time monitoring of oil well installation and
performance during the entire service life but also in civil infrastructure
applications.
Also, smart cement is being used as the binder in developing
and characterizing concrete. Several systems are being developed,
integrated with artifi cial neural network (ANN), to monitor
the performance of the cement sheath that is embedded
between the casing and geological formations.
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Underground Infrastructure - February 2023

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