Final statement of the coordinator
After 4 years, the EnDurCrete project is coming to an end on December 31st, 2021. The final EnDurCrete concrete solutions are now exposed to seawater, frost, and soils for more than 1 year. The project partners organized a final public event "Looking into the future of eco-friendly and durable concrete" online last November 10th with more than 100 participants. Training courses have been prepared for you to learn more about certain aspects of our new greener concretes and the EnDurCrete final video is also now available.The project has achieved its ambitious targets to develop eco-friendly and more durable concretes. We have developed efficient low clinker multi-component Portland cements and concretes. We have included nano-modified clays to immobilize chlorides coming from the seawater to prevent damage. We have included micro-sized carbon fibers and carbon filler materials to sense damage, and textile equipped with fiber-optic sensors to replace conventional reinforcement and for continuous monitoring. Additionally, we have developed multi-functional coatings designed to offer surface protection to concrete.
With all the characterization data generated within the EnDurCrete project, the consortium has extensively worked on modelling concrete durability and on service life prediction. Degradation phenomena are now better understood. Life cycle analysis has allowed us to prove the added value of the developed EnDurCrete solutions compared to conventional concretes. We have also looked at all other aspects such as the health and safety of our products and their recyclability.
The EnDurCrete consortium will continue to collaborate beyond the project. We will continue to exploit and disseminate the results of the project throughout conferences and scientific publications. At the time of this Newsletter, we have already published 11 scientific papers and 13 articles in several magazines.
We encourage anyone who wants to follow up on our research and development and who wants to collaborate with the EnDurCrete consortium to do so. EnDurCrete has only grasped the surface of the future of concrete. The entire construction sector must continue to improve the efficiency, performance, sustainability of buildings and infrastructures.
Meanwhile, we would like to “concretely” wish you a Happy Christmas time & a Happy New Year 2022!
Dr. Arnaud Muller
