Concrete hardening and moisture distribution in sandstones monitored by one-sided 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance

The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) phenomenon has been well known to physicists since the early fifties. Practical applications of this technique can nowadays be found in branches like medical imaging, protein analysis etc. However, conventional NMR measuring devices cannot be used for in-situ industrial application. This disadvantage is mainly due to the need for sample extraction required by these enclosing systems, but also to their large size and their fragility. Thanks to its light-weighted and rugged design, the one-sided access 1H-NMR device, which was recently developed at IZFP, offers the ability of being used in an industrial context. The aim of this paper is to show the suitability of this new concept for an almost unlimited number of applications in civil engineering. The results obtained in the last years and presented in this paper set the focus on two essential domains in common civil engineering, namely quality control during construction, where NMR was used e.g. in order to monitor the hardening degree of different fresh concrete samples and preventive diagnostic, e.g. recording of moisture depth profiles of sandstones commonly used in monuments considered as a part of our cultural heritage. As these examples are not exhaustive, the conclusion will focus on further possibilities of implementing OSA-1H-NMR in civil engineering and similar domains.