Strain-Hardening Cement-based Composites (SHCC) for Impact Strengthening of Buildings: Recent Advances in the DFG Research Training Group 2250

Concrete is by far the most widespread construction material worldwide for buildings and infrastructures. While offering wide range of advantages, concrete structures are vulnerable to impact loading such as collisions, rock fall or explosions. This can be traced back to the intrinsically brittle nature of the material. Against this background, the Research Training Group (RTG) 2250 funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) focuses on the development of strengthening overlays made of strain-hardening cement-based composites (SHCC) and other quasi-ductile mineral based materials capable of drastically enhancing the impact resistance of existing concrete structures. Multidisciplinary collaborative work is carried out by three renowned research institutions in Dresden with nine departments involved. In this contribution, an overview of the recent achievements in the RTG 2250 work are presented, spanning from the design of new sustainable SHCC as high-ductility matrices for textile-reinforced strengthening layers to the structural performance of such layers under impact loading. The latter is assessed by means of customized real-scale test protocols. Furthermore, some insights into the advanced techniques of data acquisition and management, numerical modeling as well as sustainability and resilience assessment are provided.