Multiphysics modelling of concrete at high temperatures

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the modelling of the mechanical behaviour of concrete subjected to high temperatures. This is due to the necessity of assessing the fire resistance of concrete structures such as nuclear pressure vessels, containers for chemicals, water towers or reservoirs, silos, and building structures in fire (particularly travelling fire) conditions.

Concrete is a heterogeneous multiphase material composed of aggregates that are held together by the cement paste. When concretes are exposed to high temperatures, several physical and chemical phenomena occur at a micro scale. These include, for example, drying and cracking of the cement paste and deterioration of the cement paste-aggregate bond that drive a fascinating multiphysics behaviour of the materials.

This project will develop a new class of multiphysics concrete materials models that explicitly account for the effects of a number of phenomena occurring at the micro scale on the high temperature behaviour of the materials. By combining existing experimental evidence with advanced numerical models, the micro-mechanisms underlying the macroscopically observed behaviour of concrete will be elucidated. In turn novel, reliable and mechanism-based constitutive models for concrete subjected high temperatures will be formulated.