CHROMA

Obsolete infrastructure worldwide urgently requires effective strategies to optimize maintenance and ensure user safety. According to the European Construction Observatory, about €267 billion is invested annually in infrastructure maintenance. Despite growing interest in Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), its application remains limited due to high costs, data transmission issues, large data volumes, and the need for specialized expertise.

In this context, nature offers an inexhaustible source of inspiration, characterized by efficiency, simplicity, and resilience. Mechanochromic phenomena—such as chameleon skin or bruising caused by blood pooling—are widespread in nature, providing visible warning signals that humans and animals instinctively recognize. The skin can thus be seen as a natural SHM system, delivering immediate feedback on health conditions.

CHROMA introduces a groundbreaking multidisciplinary approach by exploring, for the first time, bioinspired, stimuli-responsive materials with chromogenic properties as a new paradigm for SHM in civil infrastructure. Its disruptive concept lies in using mechanochromic materials—capable of changing color under mechanical stress—as future SHM systems. These materials will be applied as surface spray coatings on structural concrete elements, mimicking a self-reporting biological skin.

Although such materials are documented in literature, none have been specifically engineered for large-scale infrastructure applications. Over five years, CHROMA aims to transform SHM by providing a user-friendly, cost-effective, and power-free solution for monitoring civil infrastructure.