Spectra QEST commences $1.5m concrete technology R&D project
(8 January 2007) Spectra QEST announces that the Australian Government (through AusIndustry) has approved its application for a Commercial Ready Grant to fund a $1.5m automatic mix design optimisation software R&D project.
Spectra QEST has long been at the forefront of researching and developing practical and applied concrete mix optimisation technology, assisting its customers in achieving significant materials savings.
QESTMix™, for example, utilises progressive ideas and includes innovative tools in the area of concrete mix design. Concepts such as the differentiation of mixes and products, global substitutions, virtual materials, change points to represent mix groups and others were not available in any other comparable software product, anywhere in the world, when the system was first introduced in Australia in 2000.
Since then these concepts have gained market acceptance and at present leading Australian concrete producers use such ideas and tools to manage, audit, test and optimise their products. It is estimated that around 60% of the total annual Australian concrete production uses QESTLab™ and QESTMix™ for quality control and optimisation purposes. Spectra QEST’s customers regularly report savings ranging from tens of cents to over a dollar per cubic metre of concrete production.
These successes, however, are only the beginning. Spectra QEST engineers have, for many years, been working very closely with leading technical experts from the concrete industry on systematically analysing factors that affect concrete performance and considering the ways such information may be used to further optimise concrete mixes.
A comprehensive application (of some 300 pages) has been lodged with AusIndustry detailing findings to date, as well as areas where further research is needed, and the Australian Government has approved a ‘Commercial Ready Grant’ to fund 50% of the $1.5m project.
Work has already commenced on this exciting R&D project and, while detailed information has not yet been made public, in general terms the task is to develop a system (based on artificial intelligence) that can be trained to the specific conditions of the customer and then, using sophisticated mathematical algorithms, to automatically adjust the customer’s concrete mixes.
The system will take into account the behaviour of particular plants, weather conditions, material properties and the performance of existing mixes, combine all this information together, and then suggest changes to mixes—or automatically adjust concrete mixes if the customer wishes to let the system do that.
A carefully selected team of engineers has been chosen to work on this internationally significant and groundbreaking project, and the work is expected to take 18 months to two years.
About Spectra QEST:
Spectra QEST is a software development and services company specialising in solutions for the construction materials testing and production industries. Founded in January 1984, Spectra QEST has a long history of leading the world in the development and implementation of software solutions for the quality control of construction materials and soils. Its customers include leading international construction companies, construction materials and geotechnical testing companies, and construction materials manufacturers.
Contact:
Michael Sautner, Manager Technical Marketing & Sales, Spectra QEST
P: +61 8 8360 8923 (Intl), +1 888 360 8901 (USA), E: media@spectraqest.com
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