Buildings begin with the pouring of concrete to create a foundation. Deviations not caught before concrete hardens can add hours to construction time and unanticipated costs. The manual method for determining levelness is time-consuming and requires builders to mark the slab with lines and walk it with a profiling tool to collect data.
“With this digital tool, you can quickly get estimates for the foundation’s smoothness with minimal human involvement,” ORNL’s Nolan Hayes said. “This enables faster building construction because FLAT can tell you within a minute if any mistakes were made and where they are.”
Hayes said demonstrations at two housing developments proved FLAT reduced foundation measurement time by more than 90% and required no preparation of the slabs. Future work includes conducting demonstrations with different types of construction including suspended slabs, floor decking and pier foundations.
This Oak Ridge National Laboratory news article "Using AI to construct on the level" was originally found on https://www.ornl.gov/news
