Nanotechnologies and nanomaterials for construction - Civil engineering — engineering structures

The world of construction has a reputation for being traditional. The aim of this two-part dossier is to show that, beyond this cliché, it is, on the contrary, a world that, driven by our growing urbanization and the imperative need to minimize the impact on our resources and environment, will be the site of innovations that can rightly be described as nanotechnological. This will affect individual housing as much as the service sector, the urban environment and our major energy, environmental and mobility infrastructures. After a first dossier devoted primarily to building envelope materials and their impact on urban quality, this second dossier looks more specifically at the impact of nanotechnologies on the king of civil engineering materials – concrete – and on our major infrastructures – engineering structures and road networks. It will show that nanoscience and molecular engineering of additives still offer considerable scope for progress in concrete; that the use of nanomaterials in the cables and stays of engineering structures will make them active components and safer; and that, thanks to the use of new materials and devices, many of which will be based on nanotechnologies and nanomaterials ("NT & NM"), the road itself will be able to benefit from nanotechnologies and nanomaterials. NM"), the road itself will be endowed with new functionalities that will make it adaptable, resilient and automated; finally, the incorporation of massively distributed and communicating sensors will extend the Internet of Things to all our infrastructures, increasing their durability, safety and, overall, efficiency.