Smart Concretes as the Basis for Creating Smart Buildings

Smart Buildings technologies are used to increase energy efficiency, environmental protection, occupant comfort, offer security and access control. Such systems allow reducing operating costs of residential buildings. In addition to the clear benefits of smart building technologies that enhance our daily lives; their increasing complexity can lead to occasional malfunctions. Hence, it’s prudent to use processes observed in natural systems alongside the advancement of high-tech solutions. Modern achievements in materials science make it possible to create Smart Concretes, which are energy-harvesting systems that are capable of generation, storage, transformation of electrical energy and imitate natural processes. Smart Concretes are classified according to their multifunctional properties. Smart concrete presents a unique chance to design multifunctional building structures that blend conventional roles like load-bearing and enclosing with the innovative capabilities of generating, storing, and converting various forms of energy such as electrical, thermal, electromagnetic, mechanical, and light energy. A method for testing the electrical conductivity of Carbon Nanomaterials (CNMs) as aggregates for electrically conductive concrete has been developed. According to the developed method, the electrotechnical indicators of carbon fillers, such as coke breeze and carbon black, were studied.