Bio-inspired Restoration of Aged Concrete Edifices (BRACE)

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The Bio-inspired Restoration of Aged Concrete Edifices (BRACE) Program aims to prolong the serviceability of DoD structures and airfield pavements by integrating a self-healing capability into existing concrete. The DoD relies on steel-reinforced concrete structures such as missile silos and naval piers that are many decades old, not easily replaced, and subject to cracking and corrosive deterioration. The DoD also relies on concrete airfield pavements in expeditionary settings, which are subject to damage from overuse or attack and require rapid repair under logistically challenged circumstances. Unfortunately, state-of-the-art approaches to maintain concrete are one-time interventions, limited to remediation of defects at or near the surface, and typically necessitate down-time for critical assets. No current technology provides persistent crack repair and prevention for defects deep inside existing aged concrete or prolonged repair of damaged airfield pavements. Inspired by vascular systems that support continuous repair in multicellular organisms and ecosystems, the BRACE Program will develop bio-inspired approaches that 1) penetrate deep into aged concrete to form a healing “vasculature” for persistent damage repair, and 2) combine with new concrete to increase the durability of runway patch repairs. To achieve these goals, BRACE performers will engineer and operationalize vascularizing agents for both long-term (e.g., steel-reinforced marine or buried infrastructure) and rapid (e.g., expeditionary airfield) use cases.

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