Concrete is the most commonly used construction material in the world, but it is prone to cracking from mechanical loading, thermal changes, shrinkage, and chemical exposure, which has a major impact on a structure's service life and durability. Many traditional repair and maintenance methods are labor-intensive, costly, and not effective in challenging environments or inaccessible areas. To address these challenges, a new concrete material that can self-heal cracks without intervention has been developed and is known as smart self-healing concrete (SHC). The major self-healing mechanisms in concrete have been comprehensively reviewed in this chapter, namely autogenous healing, bacterial-based healing, microencapsulation, vascular networks, and superabsorbent polymer (SAP)-based systems. The mechanism of crack remediation, healing efficiency, mechanical strength recovery, and durability enhancement are discussed critically in this regard. The chapter assesses the sustainability advantages, life-cycle performance, and infrastructure applications of SHC in extreme environmental exposure scenarios. There are also various issues of large-scale implementation, such as high production costs, absence of standard testing procedures, long-term durability, and climatic adaptability that are discussed. Further, novel research trends related to artificial intelligence, structural health monitoring systems, Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled sensing, and 3D concrete printing are emphasized as breakthrough research initiatives for the future evolution of autonomous and resilient infrastructure materials. The study opens a new perspective of smart self-healing concrete for a durable, low- maintenance, and environmentally friendly civil infrastructure system.
Concrete is the basic material of modern civil infrastructure and is widely used in the construction of buildings, bridges, highways, tunnels, dams, marine structures, and transportation systems. As the world's most commonly used construction material, global consumption of concrete is more than 4.4 billion tonnes a year, due to its high compressive strength, low cost, and high availability. While concrete offers many engineering benefits, it has a high degree of brittleness and is prone to cracking due to influences such as shrinkage, thermal stresses, cyclic loading, chemical attack, and environmental exposure. The aging process of cracking, which results from a variety of aggressive agents (chlorides, sulfates, humidity, and carbon dioxide) entering the structure, leads to reinforcement corrosion, loss of durability, and premature deterioration of the structure.
The need for resilient and sustainable construction materials with minimal maintenance requirements and long-term durability has been growing in recent years, driven by the increasing demand for such products due to the rapid pace of urbanization, the aging of infrastructure, and the impact of climate change (Agbamu et al., 2024; Pooja & Tarannum, 2025). Global anthropogenic CO₂ emissions from the cement industry are almost 8% of the total (Huseien et al., 2022). Repair methods that are currently used (e.g., epoxy injection, crack sealing, and surface patching) can be labor-intensive and expensive and are often not feasible for other structures that are inaccessible, such as tunnels, offshore platforms, marine substructures, and deep foundations, and are only temporary solutions.
In this context, smart self-healing concrete (SHC) has become a revolutionary development in the field of sustainable construction materials and intelligent infrastructure engineering. The design of SHC is inspired by the self-repair mechanism observed in biological systems, which means that it can autonomously seal and repair cracks in the structure without relying on external intervention (Uddin et al., 2023; Ibrahim et al., 2025). There are several physical, chemical, and biological methods for self-healing, such as autogenous healing, bacterial mineral precipitation, microencapsulation, vascular healing systems, and superabsorbent polymer (SAP)-based technologies. The mechanisms impact greatly the crack closure, impermeability, durability, and long-term structural performance.
