The world's first artificial intelligence (AI) concrete strength prediction engine has been utilised on a project at London City Airport.

Contractor BAM Nuttall worked with Converge to develop the engine, which takes advantage of Converge's concrete performance data set.

The solution has now been utilised to support an expansion scheme at London City Airport, with the developers also in the process of securing other opportunities to use this technology on live projects.

Within hours of concrete being poured, Converge claimed it can predict the time a critical strength will be reached with an accuracy of +/- 5%, several days in advance, by applying machine learning techniques. The predictions engine combines local weather data, a database of historical concrete curing data, and the Converge concrete monitoring platform's real-time measurements from the pour.

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Converge and BAM Nuttall said the system led to improved productivity and can help keeps projects on track, ultimately saving millions of pounds if concrete sits in the critical path.

The strength prediction engine was developed using funding from an Innovate UK grant awarded in 2018.

Head of innovation at BAM Nuttall, Colin Evison, said: "This advancement in construction technology is a game changer. The Converge prediction engine gives us insight into material performance we didn't think possible. We are delighted to be Converge's industry partner in bringing this exciting new tool to market."

Converge product lead, Sam Ellenby, added: "Our users were waiting for concrete to hit a critical strength before scheduling the next activity, but this often meant that the site teams needed to strike formwork or tension the slab were deployed in other areas when the time came to act. Thus, critical actions were frequently delayed."

(CM/MH)