ERI: Correlating Cyclical and Coupled Exposure to Concrete Performance and Service Life

This Engineering Research Initiation (ERI) award supports research that aims to assess the performance of concrete exposed to harsh environments that cycle between warm-humid and cold seasons that are increasing in severity due to climate change. Concrete is the most widely used construction material and its production releases 8% of human-caused carbon dioxide.

Limiting this environmental burden requires improved methods for predicting concrete performance and extending the useful life of new and existing concrete infrastructure. The microstructure of concrete is porous and evolves over time due to seasonal or long-term climate changes. Existing test methodologies and models based on stable environments may not detect this interaction, leading to concrete infrastructure that deteriorates in harsh, cyclical environments.

Using a novel accelerated test method, concrete will be exposed to conditions that simulate extreme environments and then the interaction between these environments will be studied. The experimental results will supply data for the development of models to predict concrete performance in cyclical and changing environments. The research will attempt to supply engineers and material scientists with a fundamental understanding of the relationships between the evolving microstructure of concrete and its respective service life in harsh environments.

This research will integrate education and curriculum development to increase involvement of undergraduate and graduate students in advanced materials science, data science, and holistic model development.

The goal of this research is to quantify changes in microstructural and transport properties imparted by cyclical, dynamic, and coupled environments and to understand the mechanism of interaction resulting from those changes. It has been established that aggressive environments alter concrete microstructure resulting in degraded performance when exposed to another environment, as occurs due to seasonal or climate change.

The objectives of this research are to (a) simulate the deterioration caused by cyclical, dynamic, and coupled environments, (b) measure the resulting changes in microstructural and transport properties over the duration of the simulation, and (c) correlate microstructural changes to performance. The following fundamental questions will be addressed: (1) what microstructural characteristics of concrete are altered when exposed to cyclical or dynamic environments? (2) does an interaction occur between the physicochemical changes imparted by one environment and the durability of concrete in another environment? (3) how is the performance of concrete diminished by exposure to cyclical, dynamic, or coupled environments?

The long-term aim of this research initiation is to correlate microstructural and transport properties to performance and service life through model development. This research will provide the PI’s team with foundational knowledge in materials science, data science, and holistic model development.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.