POLYTECT - Polyfunctional Technical Textiles against Natural Hazards

Textile structures are extensively used in construction in forms of geotextiles for the reinforcement of earthworks and drainage. The retrofitting of existing masonry walls and soil structures gains more and more importance especially in connection with earthquake protection of historic buildings and protection of roads and railroads embankments against landslides.
Hence the necessity arises to develop efficient methods for the retrofitting of existing masonry buildings and earthworks and of related monitoring systems to possibly alert/prevent the structural damage, for the planning of the maintenance works, for the evaluation of the structural integrity. More recently composites reinforced with technical textiles have been used for the retrofitting and reinforcement of constructions, in particular for the seismic reinforcement. The possibility to perform additional and different functions at the same time would further stimulate the adoption of such techniques.
Therefore the broader aim of POLYTECT is the development of new multifunctional textile structures for application in construction for the retrofitting of masonry structures and earthworks.
This project is partially funded by European Community under the "Integrated Research project for SME" programme.