Saint-Gobain, IIT-Madras to Set Up Two Labs With ₹3.8 Crore Grant

A grant of ₹3.8 crore over a three-year period will support Saint-Gobain India and IIT-Madras in setting up two research laboratories for sustainable construction materials and digital technologies for the built environment.

The laboratories will be established at the Centre of Excellence on Technologies for Low-carbon and Lean Construction at IIT-Madras.

The facilities will be the Digital Real-Time Sensing Technologies for Infrastructure (DRSTI) laboratory and the Concrete Admixture Research for Engineering Next-gen Construction (CAREN) laboratory.

Focus on construction challenges

The laboratories will aim to address challenges facing the construction sector, including productivity, material efficiency, structural durability and digital transformation, a press release stated.

The CAREN laboratory will study how chemical admixtures interact with alternative cementitious materials.

Its research will include industrial by-products and supplementary materials that can partially replace Portland cement.

The grant will support the setup and work of both laboratories during the three-year collaboration period.

Digital monitoring and building performance

The DRSTI laboratory will develop intelligent solutions for monitoring construction progress, assessing quality and improving productivity.

It will also work on evaluating building performance, according to the release.

Together, the laboratories will cover the collaboration’s stated focus on material innovation and digital technologies for construction.

Source: The Hindu