American University of Sharjah to build world’s first conductive concrete building

Researchers from the College of Engineering at American University of Sharjah (AUS) will begin constructing the first building made of conductive concrete. This application is the next step in an ongoing AUS research program that has spanned more than 14 years.

Conductive concrete provides protection from electromagnetic pulse (EMP) for buildings hosting sensitive equipment and information.

The concrete will be applied to a new building to be established at the Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation Park (SRTIP) and constructed by ALEC Engineering and Contracting LLC (ALEC).

During this process, students from the AUS College of Engineering will be trained on this technology to gain valuable, hands-on experience throughout the implementation of the project.

The research team, consisting of Dr. Sherif Yahya from the Department of Civil Engineering and Dr. Nasser Qaddoumi from the Department of Electrical Engineering, stressed the importance of this innovation in protecting infrastructure for years to come.

“Decision makers began to think of ways to protect critical civilian and military infrastructures, such as data centers, power stations and security centers against electromagnetic threats from cosmic rays to electromagnetic pulses, also known as electronic bombs. Installing layers of conductors on buildings alleviates the problem, but the implementation is very difficult and expensive,” said Dr. Qaddoumi.

"We began working on this project 14 years ago through research, testing and verification of specifications, and we have now reached the stage of experimentation and practical application by constructing a building with this new mixture of cement. New components are added to enable us to use the conductive concrete in new projects that are immune to threats from electromagnetic and electronic waves, and potential solar storms. The goal of this innovation is to protect public property,” said Dr. Sherif Yehia.

Executive Director of SRTIP, Hussain Al Mahmoudi, expressed his happiness in partnering with AUS for research and development, and being a part of this great achievement. He announced that SRTIP is working with AUS in multiple disciplines and various laboratories to apply and test areas of research.