NEXT GENERATION OF ADVANCED COMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR SUSTAINABLE RETROFITTING OF STRUCTURES

Project Information

THORAX

Grant agreement ID: 892406

DOI

10.3030/892406

Project closed

EC signature date 23 April 2020

Start date 8 September 2021

End date 7 September 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 153 085,44

EU contribution

€ 153 085,44

Coordinated by

PANEPISTIMIO THESSALIAS
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - THORAX (NEXT GENERATION OF ADVANCED COMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR SUSTAINABLE RETROFITTING OF STRUCTURES)

Reporting period: 2021-09-08 to 2023-09-07

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Past earthquakes showed that structures composed of reinforced concrete frames infilled with masonry walls are often not able to meet adequate safety margins during increased seismic activities. Only in 2023, two high-magnitude earthquakes (Turkey-Syria and Marrakesh-Safi) devastated the two countries with large stock of masonry structures, also including residential buildings killing more than sixty thousands of people and causing massive damage to the households and infrastructure, with the repair costs still being estimated. The current global challenges to reduce CO2 emissions, which of large part comes from construction industry, require development of new construction materials, which are not only robust and effective but can also mitigate this impact. As known, big part of the current C02 emissions comes from the construction sector and recent reports estimate that buildings are responsible for as much as 35% of the energy consumption and 38% of the CO2 emissions globally.
The main objective of THORAX was to develop the next generation of advanced composite materials for retrofitting of substandard structures such as masonry infilled reinforced concrete buildings – structures, which have shown to have not adequate margins of safety, especially during seismic actions. The new composite material aimed to combine sustainable textile reinforced mortars (TRM) and standard expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulation, thus offering a retrofitting system, which can tackle the structural problems, and, at the same time, deal with energy deficiencies of such buildings.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

To fulfil the objectives of this fellowship, six Work Packages were established aiming to execute the research tasks, achieve the research goals and disseminate the project outputs. Firstly, a comprehensive state-of-the-art was carried on the structural issues related to the masonry infilled structures to identify the knowledge gaps in this area and learn how to integrate the two systems (TRM and EPS retrofitting). Likewise, a literature review was conducted on geopolymers to better understand their performance and to develop new sustainable geopolymer binders for textiles suitable to this sort of application. The geopolymer binder was developed throughout an extensive experimental campaign focusing on mortar production technology and material characterization to achieve the best mortar mix. The performance of the new textile reinforced geopolymer binder as well as the integration with the energy retrofitting was carried through two testing programs on masonry walls subjected to shear and bending and the results were compared to the ordinary Portland cement based system. The performance of the new system was then validated on large scale tests on masonry infilled reinforced concrete frames hence providing direct evidence on its applicability on the envelopes of existing buildings. Finally, an extensive analytical work has been started to develop new models for effective and sustainable implementation of the novel system into industrial applications thereby allowing for a faster uptake of the research findings by the business sector.
Based on the outcome of THORAX it is clear that TRM and EPS retrofitting schemes can be well integrated into one robust composite system. The combination of geopolymer binder, basalt textiles and EPS boards is capable to create a system, which can largely improve shear, flexural and energy performance of existing buildings utilizing smart, sustainable and more environment-friendly materials.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

This two-year MSC Fellowship and its outcomes significantly contributed to the current state-of-the-art and beyond. The Fellow carried out pioneering research on sustainable basalt textile reinforced geopolymer mortars with integrated thermal insulation as such developing first, sustainable and energy efficient retrofitting systems for construction capable to enhance structural and energy performance of the existing buildings. It is believed that the results of this study will aid in developing new environmentally-friendly repair systems for existing structures, which will help to reduce current CO2 emissions in Europe and worldwide. The project resulted in several journal papers and conference papers, which were presented in international conferences and webinars as such enabling fast uptake of the research findings by industry.
The project is timely and ideally fits into current European goals such as the European Green Deal scheme, which aims to convert Europe into climate neutral continent by the year of 2050. The systems developed during this fellowship will enable EU a more effective and holistic progress on retrofitting of the existing building stock and bring it closer to the aforementioned goals. It is anticipated that the outcome of this Fellowship will be allow industry to adopt these strengthening methods, which will contribute to the growth of the small and medium enterprises of the construction sector.

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