Smart Textiles for RETrofitting and Monitoring of Cultural Heritage Buildings

Project Information

STRETCH

Grant agreement ID: 896300

DOI

10.3030/896300

Project closed

EC signature date 24 April 2020

Start date 1 March 2021

End date 31 July 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 183 473,28

EU contribution

€ 183 473,28

Coordinated by

JRC -JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE- EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - STRETCH (Smart Textiles for RETrofitting and Monitoring of Cultural Heritage Buildings)

Reporting period: 2021-03-01 to 2023-02-28

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

STRETCH is a project that aims to increase the resilience of Cultural Heritage Buildings (CHB) and reduce their energy consumption using smart materials. These buildings, made of stone and brick masonry, generally have poor energy performance and contribute significantly to the environmental impact of the existing global building stock. Buildings in Europe consume 40% of total energy and produce 36% of greenhouse gas emissions. Renovating existing buildings is critical to support the EU's path towards net-zero carbon targets and replacing them is prohibitively expensive.
Besides the energy inefficiency, historical and heritage masonry buildings often present structural deficiencies and vulnerability, leading to collapses and severe damages during recent earthquakes (e.g. Central Italy 2016). The results were significant economic losses, severe injuries and loss of human lives.
In recent years, a new approach to improve the energy efficiency and seismic safety of existing buildings has emerged. This involves integrating retrofitting measures to improve cost-effectiveness, safety, and efficiency. When dealing with CHB, it is crucial to consider the impact of these interventions on the building's heritage value. As such, retrofit measures such as technologies and materials must be compatible with the building's historical features to maintain its integrity, identity, and functional efficiency while also protecting against seismic hazards and improving thermal performance. Additionally, it is crucial to monitor the health condition of existing structures to assess their structural performance and make cost-effective maintenance and retrofitting decisions. Using efficient and accurate Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems is essential in this regard.
The STRETCH Project strives to conduct advanced systematic research towards developing a hybrid structural-plus-energy retrofitting and monitoring solution that combines textile-reinforced mortar (TRM) with thermal insulation systems and distributed fibre optic sensors (FOS). The hybrid system is accurately designed to be compatible with historical masonry buildings. Such an innovative realisation of all retrofitting and monitoring interventions into one allows for achieving both the required safety and energy performance and also provides SHM features while keeping the overall intervention cost low by dramatically reducing the labour cost, as all interventions are carried out at once.
The STRETCH Project involves conducting experiments and research using both numerical and analytical methods. Its goal is to create a retrofit solution that combines seismic and energy measures and incorporates a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system based on fibre optic sensors (FOS). This solution is intended specifically for historical masonry buildings. The specific measurable objectives of the Project are the following:
• To develop a new system that provides combined structural and energy retrofit plus SHM for the existing masonry buildings using smart multifunctional textiles, and assess it experimentally on small and large-scale.
• To develop and calibrate advanced nonlinear FEM models for conducting parametric numerical analyses and simulate damage evolution up to failure for typical masonry walls strengthened with the proposed system.
• To provide draft guidelines and make recommendations for future research and standardisation needs in the topic based on the project findings.

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

The focus of the STRETCH project was to create a hybrid seismic and energy retrofit system with an integrated SHM system based on the use of FOS. This was achieved through a combination of experimental and numerical analyses.
The experimental activities were conducted at the Structural and Materials Laboratory of the University of Genova (UniGE). Several tests were conducted including diagonal compression (DC) tests, out-of-plane (OOP) cyclic tests, and combined (DC + OOP) tests. The results of these tests successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of combining TRM with thermal insulation panels to strengthen stone-masonry walls and of the FOS system in monitoring the structural response.
The Fellow and UniGE colleagues used a model simulation to evaluate a proposed retrofitting system's thermal behaviour and energy performance, showing a significant improvement in the walls' thermal performance.
As a part of STRETCH activities, a numerical study was conducted using an equivalent frame modelling approach to evaluate the efficiency of the suggested retrofit technique for seismic strengthening of full-scale historic stone-masonry buildings.
The Fellow contributed to several scientific publications in reputed international journals and conference proceedings.
• Rossi, M., Bournas, D. Structural Health Monitoring and Management of Cultural Heritage Structures: A State-of-the-Art Review. Appl. Sci. 2023, 13, 6450. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13116450.
• Zanjani, M.M.K. Peralta, I., Rossi, M., Mohit, M., Fachinotti, V.D. Bournas, D. and Caggiano, A., Thermal energy storage of integrated energy and structural retrofitting systems for masonry walls: cases studies and numerical assessments, In: The 77th RILEM Annual Week, 04-08 September 2023, Vancouver, BC, Canada, RILEM Bookseries.
The Fellow is progressing on two scientific papers that will be submitted for publication in international peer-reviewed journals between December 2023 and January 2024, respectively. Specifically:
• An experimental research paper by Rossi M, and Bournas D. with the tentative title “Experimental Evaluation of an Innovative Hybrid Seismic and Energy Retrofitting System for Strengthening of Historic Stone Masonry Structures” to be submitted to the Journals Journal of Building Engineering or Construction and Building Materials by Elsevier.
• A numerical research paper by Rossi M., Kallioras S. and Bournas D. with the tentative title “Numerical Assessment of a TRM-Based Retrofit Approach for the Seismic Upgrade of Unreinforced Stone-Masonry Buildings” to be submitted to the Journal Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering by Springer.
The STRETCH activities were also shared on the Website BUILD UP, the European portal for Energy Efficiency in Buildings funded and managed by CINEA, by publishing a Technical Article titled “Smart textiles for the retrofitting and monitoring of cultural heritage buildings” .
During her MSCA fellowship, the research work of the STRETCH project has been presented in several workshops organised by the JRC.

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)

The Project aims to boost the resilience of Cultural Heritage Buildings. It promotes the concept of using advanced materials, specifically smart textiles equipped with built-in sensors for monitoring, to upgrade historic masonry buildings, enhancing their safety and sustainability.
STRETCH generates data on energy and seismic performance of EU masonry heritage buildings, allowing decision-makers to evaluate retrofitting options and engineers to develop effective strengthening strategies. The public can also utilize the data to make well-informed decisions about building renovations.
In the coming months, STRETCH aspires to contribute to policies, standards and tools in support of the Renovation Wave of Buildings initiative of the European Green Deal through scientific and technical open-access publications on the integrated seismic and energy retrofitting and monitoring of EU Cultural Heritage buildings.

STRETCH technology - conceptual sketch