Renovation: buildings and bridges that repair themselves

The innovation of the day is buildings and bridges that repair themselves.

A technique has been developed which allows dimension stone and concrete to self-regenerate in the event of a crack.

This has necessarily happened to you: seeing a crack appear in the wall or in the ceiling.

At first, it's never too serious.

But it's best to recap it before it gets worse.

Because there are also all the internal cracks that we do not see.

Now imagine a concrete which, once cracked, will clog up, reseal itself, without having to do anything.

This is what engineers at Cardiff University in Wales have developed.

These are special bacteria that are incorporated into the concrete mixture.

As soon as they are exposed to the air, they will multiply and create a kind of mineral glue which will make the concrete self-regenerating.

So it only works on new constructions, not on existing ones.

So, they also developed a lotion with the same bacteria.

It will infiltrate deep within the existing stone or concrete, to give them these famous self-regeneration capacities.

This can therefore extend the life of existing structures.

Anicet Mbida found a staggering figure: in Europe, we spend each year, between 4 and 6 billion euros to monitor and maintain bridges in condition (we remember the Genoa bridge which collapsed in 2018).

With this treatment, the appearance of cracks could be delayed even in places that are impossible to inspect.

It is still at the laboratory stage where buildings are already treated.

It just came out of the labs.

The technique was tested for two years on a 10th century abbey in Wales.

And its structure would be in much better condition today.

The treatment could therefore quickly develop in the renovation.