Concrete material science: Past, present, and future innovations

Damme, H. Van

doi:10.1016/j.cemconres.2018.05.002

Cited by 267 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 142 publications

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“…90 This is attributed to the polydisperse distribution of particles in our models allowing the smaller particles to some extent fill the gap between larger particles as envisioned in Apollonian packing. 91 However, more notably, we find that the jamming limit in our simulations is lower for models with higher polydispersity degree. This can be understood in light of the interplay between the random placement and orientation of oblate particles and the role of cohesion in their granulation.…”

Section: Percolation and Jamming In C-s-h Gelmentioning

confidence: 45%

Nanolayered attributes of calcium‐silicate‐hydrate gels

et al. 2019

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Calcium‐silicate‐hydrates (C–S–H) gel, the main binding phase in cementitious materials, has a complex multiscale texture. Despite decades of intensive research, the relation between C–S–H's chemical composition and mesoscale texture remains experimentally limited to probe and theoretically elusive to comprehend. While the nanogranular texture explains a wide range of experimental observations, understanding the fundamental processes that control particles’ size and shape are still obscure. This paper strives to establish a link between the chemistry of C–S–H nanolayers at the molecular level and formation of C–S–H globules at the mesoscale via the potential‐of‐mean‐force (PMF) coarse‐graining approach. We propose a new thermomechanical load‐cycling scheme that effectively packs polydisperse coarse‐grained nanolayers and creates representative C–S–H gel structures at various packing densities. We find that the C–S–H nanolayers percolate at ~10% packing fraction, significantly below the percolation of ideal hard contact oblate particles and rather close to that of overlapping ellipsoids. The agglomeration of C–S–H nanolayers leads to the formation of globular clusters with the effective thickness of ~5 nm, in striking agreement with small angle neutron and X‐ray scattering measurements as well as nanoscale imaging observations. The study of pore structure and local packing distribution in the course of densification shows a transition from a connected pore network to isolated nanoporosity. Furthermore, the calculated mechanical properties are in excellent agreement with statistical nanoindentation experiments, positioning nanolayered morphology as a finer description of C–S–H globule models. Such high‐resolution description becomes indispensable when investigating phenomena that involve internal building blocks of globules such as shrinkage and creep.

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Section: Percolation and Jamming In C-s-h Gelmentioning

confidence: 45%

Nanolayered attributes of calcium‐silicate‐hydrate gels

et al. 2019

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“…The compressive strength of concrete could be evaluated while using the expression tree provided in Figure 1, the slump of concrete could be evaluated while using the expression tree provided in Figure 4, and the total cost could be evaluated using Equation (1). The constraints consist of design compressive strength constraint, design workability constraint, range constraints, ratio constraints, and concrete volume constraint.…”

Section: Optimal Mixtures With Normal Co 2 Pricingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…High-strength concrete shows various advantages, such as reducing the size of the structural element, increasing the used space of a building, and extending the service life. Both construction companies and investors are interested in making high-strength concrete with lower material cost and CO 2 emissions [1,2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Carbon Pricing on Optimal Mix Design of Sustainable High-Strength Concrete

Wang

2019

Sustainability

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Material cost and CO2 emissions are among the vital issues related to the sustainability of high-strength concrete. This research proposes a calculation procedure for the mix design of silica fume-blended high-strength concrete with an optimal total cost considering various carbon pricings. First, the material cost and CO2 emission cost are determined using concrete mixture and unit prices. Gene expression programming (GEP) is used to evaluate concrete mechanical and workability properties. Second, a genetic algorithm (GA) is used to search the optimal mixture, considering various constraints, such as design compressive strength constraint, design workability constraint, range constraints, ratio constraints, and concrete volume constraint. The optimization objective of the GA is the sum of the material cost and the cost of CO2 emissions. Third, illustrative examples are shown for designing various kinds of concrete. Five strength levels (from 95 to 115 MPa with steps of 5 MPa) and four carbon pricings (normal carbon pricing, zero carbon pricing, five-fold carbon pricings, and ten-fold carbon pricings) are considered. A total of 20 optimal mixtures are calculated. The optimal mixtures were found the same for the cases of normal CO2 pricing and zero CO2 pricing. Optimal mixtures with higher strengths are more sensitive to variation in carbon pricing. For five-fold CO2 pricing, the cement content of mixtures with higher strengths (105, 110, and 115 MPa) are lower than those of normal CO2 pricing. As the CO2 pricing increases from five-fold to ten-fold, for mixtures with a strength of 110 MPa, the cement content becomes lower. Summarily, the proposed method can be applied to the material design of sustainable high-strength concrete with low material cost and CO2 emissions.

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“…In recent years, advances in computational design tools and industrial automation have allowed architects and engineers to carry out construction projects characterised by an increasing overall complexity and a high level of digitalisation [1][2][3][4][5]. The growing number of irregular-shape buildings or structures recently constructed, or planned in various countries, represents the evidence of technological progress characterised by an evolution of conventional construction materials, design approaches, and manufacturing methods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%