Cultural heritage is at risk. 65% of the global heritage stock is structurally deficient due to ageing, lack of maintenance, environmental exposure and natural and human-induced hazards. However, the long-term performance of current retrofitting solutions is under question. To avoid “repair-of-the-repair” approaches, durable retrofitting solutions and continuous structural health monitoring must be prioritized to ensure timely intervention before safety is jeopardised. However, existing monitoring solutions rely mainly on the use of extrinsic sensors, which detect only local damage, have limited lifespan, are often incompatible with the host structure or require high installation costs and complex interrogation units. With around 50% of European construction expenditure already devoted to rehabilitation, a paradigm shift is needed - from reactive repair to proactive retrofitting that simultaneously protects, monitors and self-repairs.
AESTHESIS addressed this challenge by developing a new generation of multi-functional Textile-Reinforced Mortars (TRM), by integrating, for the first time, self-sensing and self-healing functionalities.
AESTHESIS has the following objectives:
1. quantify how the key parameters of mortars and textiles affect their multi-functional performance;
2. assess the self-sensing and self-healing behaviour of TRM and TRM-strengthened elements under realistic mechanical and environmental conditions;
3. demonstrate the technology on a real heritage structure;
4. deliver design guidelines aligned with European and international standards
The Action delivers impact across three fronts: scientific, technological and economic, and societal. Scientifically, the Action unlocks the potential of self-sensing and self-healing materials, addresses the "intelligence" of materials containing industrial by-products, and generates know-how directly exploitable in smart-structures, smart-cities and digitisation applications such as Digital Twins. Technologically and economically, by combining strengthening and monitoring within the same composite, the Action reduces both rehabilitation costs and the prohibitive hardware costs of traditional Structural Health Monitoring, while opening new market opportunities for value-added applications of recycled materials and industrial by-products and increasing European competitiveness in the retrofitting sector. Societally, AESTHESIS provides safer and more resilient heritage structures, reinforcing the European identity while supporting a greener economy. The Action contributes directly to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 9, 11 and 13) and aligns with the strategic priorities of the European Green Deal and the EU framework on cultural heritage and climate resilience
