| Posted: April 2, 2007 |
Nanotechnology protection for houses in earthquake zones |
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(Nanowerk News) A villa designed to resist earthquakes with "self-healing" cracks in its walls, thanks to nanotechnology applications with self-healing polymers, is to be built on a Greek mountainside.
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The villa's walls will include special particles that turn into a liquid when squeezed under pressure, flow into cracks, and then harden to form a solid material.
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The NanoManufacturing Institute (NMI), based in Leeds University, will play a key role in a €14m EU project to construct the home by December 2010. The project, called "Intelligent Safe and Secure Buildings" (ISSB) is funded under the EU's Sixth Framework prograqm.
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This potentially lifesaving scheme is led by German building manufacturer Knauf. The villa will be built in Amphilochia, in western Greece, where Knauf currently runs a manufacturing plant.
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If the experiment is successful, more tremor-resistant homes could be built in earthquake zones across the globe.
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NMI chief executive Professor Terry Wilkins said: "What we're trying to achieve here is very exciting. We're looking to use polymers in much tougher situations than ever before on a larger scale."
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Monitors contained in the villa's walls will be able to collect vast amounts of data about the building over time.
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Wireless sensors and Leeds-designed radio frequency identity tags will record any stresses and vibrations, as well as temperature, humidity and gas levels.
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The walls are to be built from novel load-bearing steel frames and high-strength gypsum board.
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Prof Wilkins said: "If there are any problems, the intelligent sensor network will be able to alert residents immediately so they have time to escape.
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"If whole groups of houses are so constructed, we could use a larger network of sensors to get even more information.
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"If the house falls down, we have got hand-held devices that can be used over the rubble to pick out where the embedded sensors are hidden to get some information about how the villa collapsed.
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"Also, we can get information about anyone who may be around, so it potentially becomes a tool for rescue."
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Dr Greg Horler, from Leeds University's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, will work with Instrumentel, a spinout company from the university, to
deliver the sensor technology.
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Dr Roger Gregory, chairman of Instrumentel, said: "Leeds are world leaders in designing wireless networks for extreme environments and hard-to-access places.
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"Even if the building totally collapsed, the sensors would still let you pinpoint the source of the fault."
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A team from the university's School of Mechanical Engineering, headed by Professor Anne Neville, will research designing the nano polymer particles required.
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Prof Wilkins said: "Once we have the optimum design, we could quickly start producing thousands of litres of nano-particle fluid, adding just a tiny percentage to the gypsum mix."
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Leeds is the only UK university asked to join the project, which involves 25 other partners.
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