Non destructive testing exists and is fairly mature for reinforced concrete. It's just more expensive. But it's not so much about testing, since once a structur

Non destructive testing exists and is fairly mature for reinforced concrete. It's just more expensive. But it's not so much about testing, since once a structure is built, you're not going to get the owner to pay for any more testing, until signs of potential failure arise. You need an obvious reason to test in the first place. Testing also somewhat implies that the design or material is defective; but that's only two paths to failure out of many. More likely, the structure is overloaded, or supplemental supports are removed prematurely, as is what seems to be the case for the recent hard-rock hotel collapse in New Orleans. This isn't too say that new materials don't have a beneficial use. We would probably need to develop a new and separate sub-discipline, the same way pre-stressed and post-stressed concrete structures are designed, which have since been included into ACI code.