HEALCON

The project HEALCON, which deals with self-healing concrete to create durable and sustainable concrete structures, is funded by EU-FP7 and started in January 2013. The coordinator of the project is Prof. Nele De Belie (UGent) and the consortium partners are UGent, Avecom, TU Delft, Acciona, TTI, VTT, COWI, DTI, CEINNMAT, Devan, Fescon and TUM.

Adequate perpetuation of the road, tunnel and bridge network, is crucial to preserving European cohesion and business operations; and around 70% of this infrastructure is made of concrete. In order to guarantee liquid tightness of concrete structures, and enhance durability of elements prone to bending cracks, smart concrete with self-healing properties will be designed.

Thanks to the existing expertise of the consortium in the field of self-healing concrete at a lab-scale, a thoughtful selection of promising techniques is possible.

  • For early age cracks, a non-elastic repair material can be proposed, such as calcium carbonate precipitated by bacteria, or new cement hydrates of which the formation is stimulated by the presence of hydrogels.
  • For moving cracks under dynamic load, an elastic polymeric healing agent is suggested.

Different healing agents and encapsulation techniques are tested and scaled up. Self-healing efficiency is evaluated in lab-scale tests using purposefully adapted monitoring techniques, and optimized with the help of suitable computer models.

Finally the efficiency is validated in a large scale lab test and implemented in an actual concrete structure. Life-cycle cost analysis will show the impact of the self-healing technologies on economy, society and environment compared to traditional construction methods. All non-destructive techniques used to characterize the material before and after healing will be applied by TU Muenchen, SmartMote company in Stuttgart and the other partners of Healcon.

zfp(at)ed.tum.de

Duration/Laufzeit: 2013-2016

Das Projekt Healcon in den Medien

"HEALCON - Selbst heilender Beton," DETAIL - Zeitschrift für Archtektur + Baudetail - Review of Architecture, 19.09.2017

ARD-Sendung "W wie Wissen" verweist in Beitrag zu Autobahnbaustellen auf da HEALCON Projekt, 29.07.2017 (Video nicht mehr verfügbar)

Selbstheilender Beton - Ein Radiobeitrag zum HEALCON Projekt auf SWR2 Impuls,  Fr, 26. Februar. 2016 (nicht mehr verfügbar)

TUM auf der AAAS-Jahrestagung: Beton mit Selbstheilungskräften, Informationen zum HEALCON Project auf der 16. AAAS in Washington D.C. (english version)

Pressemitteilung (News Release) der Technischen Universität München "HealCON forscht an innovativen MaterialienBeton mit Selbstheilungskräften" vom 13.02.2016 (english version)

Youtube Video über das Projekt HEALCON "Beton mit Selbstheilungskräften" und "Concrete with self-healing powers"

BBC-Sendung "Horizons" berichtet über Forschung an der TUM (Video nicht mehr verfügbar)

EU-Projekt HEALCON entwickelt innovative Baustoffe (english version)

"Verfall programmiert" Artikel in "Süddeutsche Zeitung" 2. Februar 2015

"Da geht doch noch mehr" Artikel in "Zeit Campus" (Nr.6 November/Dezember 2014)

"Heile, heile Mauer" im Deutschlandradio "Forschung aktuell" vom 15.05.2013. (Medienbericht ist leider nicht mehr verfügbar.)

Beitrag zur Brückensanierung des ZDF vom 29.11.2013 (Start nach 6'08")