PRIIC MER & PRIC ICE

PRIIC - MER

This project is supported by the CPER 2015-2020 and the Plateforme Régionale Intégrée pour l'Ingénierie de la Construction-Mer (Integrated Regional Platform for Marine Construction Engineering), commonly known as PRIIC - MER.

The project is part of the Génie Civil et bâtiment en environnement complexe - GCEM (Civil and Building Engineering in Complex Environments) programme. The aim of the integrated platform is to use specialised equipment to enhance the areas of excellence relating to the degradation, behaviour and instrumentation of materials and structures at sea, taking into account uncertainties and variability. The project aims to develop experimentation on materials and structures in deep waters.
This project was driven by a clear vision of two essential aspects of sustainable construction in a marine environment: detailed characterisation of construction materials and of the soil on which the structures are built.

The specific equipment acquired by Ecole Centrale as part of the CPER 2015-2020 programme has complemented existing equipment used for high-quality academic and partnership research into the behaviour of estuarine or marine soils and the degradation mechanisms of construction materials in contact with aggressive waters such as seawater.
The scientific objectives are to gain a better understanding of the marine environment, which is an aggressive place for concrete for a number of reasons. The progressive penetration of chloride ions through the concrete coating by capillary absorption or diffusion leads to the corrosion of steel reinforcements.
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PRIC - ICE

LiRGeC's research is internationally recognised in the field of structural durability. With this project, we hope to maintain our lead by investigating the effect of early cracking, due for example to a major exothermic reaction, on the durability of materials.

We intend to achieve this through the simultaneous use of the original experimental resources requested under the CPER, which will enable us to physically simulate the stresses leading to cracking in a structure. The project comprises 3 pieces of equipment for which the total amount provided for in the CPER is €600k.