Overview
Overview
The protection of architectural heritage requires effective, durable and compatible solutions that ensure its long-term safeguarding without compromising its cultural value. The structural rehabilitation of existing constructions nowadays takes advantage of innovative systems with composite materials, which offer high mechanical performances with minimum encumbrance and mass increase, thus being particularly advantageous for the retrofitting against earthquakes, the main hazard to which most Italian historic buildings and city centres are exposed.
A new generation of composites has been recently proposed consisting of high strength textiles embedded into inorganic (mortar) matrices, which ensure the fulfilment of the principles of conservation and restoration, such as (i) respect of authenticity of materials and structural behaviour, (ii) minimum intervention, (iii) reversibility, substitutability and removability, (iv) compatibility with original substrates and decorative settings, (v) durability.
The last decade has met increasing research efforts and a fast technological/industrial development, with several applications to cultural heritage after L’Aquila 2009 and Emilia 2012 earthquakes. Further applications could follow in the reconstructions of the city centres struck by the recent 2016 Amatrice Earthquake. Nevertheless, the use of mortar-based reinforcements still relies on insufficient knowledge on mechanical performances and durability, and no guidelines are yet available on qualification, installation, design and control, which are instead crucial for the effectiveness of the strengthening work.
This project aims at gaining an improved understanding on the structural performance of mortar-based composites for the protection of cultural heritage, developing effective, durable, compatible and sustainable solutions, fostering the transfer of knowledge from the academia to the professional practice, strengthening the competitiveness of Italian research centres and industries, and encouraging an aware use of composites in the rehabilitation of cultural heritage.
Consortium
- Roma Tre University, Department of Engineering (Coordinator of the project)
- University of Miami, Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Department (US partner)
- CertiMaC (Scientific partner)
- Kerakoll SpA (Industrial partner)
- G&P Intech srl (Industrial partner)
- Fibre Net srl (Industrial partner)
- Cingoli srl (Industrial partner)
Main information
- Duration: 3 years, from 01/01/2016 to 31/12/2018
- Total cost: ca. 232,000 euros
- Grant: PGR00234