(October 28, 2015) A
University-led project is testing ways of automatically repairing concrete
without human intervention
The first major trial of self-healing concrete in the UK,
led by a team of researchers from the School of Engineering, is being
undertaken at a site in the South Wales Valleys.
The project, entitled Materials for Life (M4L), is piloting
three separate concrete-healing technologies for the first time in real-world
settings, with a view to incorporating them into a single system that could be
used to automatically repair concrete in the built environment.
At present, billions of pounds are spent every year
maintaining, fixing and restoring structures such as bridges, buildings, tunnels
and roads.
It is estimated that around £40 billion a year is spent in
the UK on the repair and maintenance of structures, the majority of which are
made from concrete.