Multi-scale Modeling of Hybrid Fiber-reinforced Composite Overlays for Structural Repair and Retrofit

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The introduction of short discontinuous fibers into hydraulic cement composites can improve material toughness, strength, resistance to shrinkage cracking, and durability. The degree to which such improvements are achieved depends on many factors, including fiber type, fiber dosage, properties of the matrix, phase, hygral and thermal loading conditions and the spatial distribution of the constituents. Enhancing performance is paramount for repair and retrofit technologies that utilize such materials, including fiber-reinforced composite overlay systems. However, direct quantitative relationships between the basic material parameters and the desired composite performance measures are still lacking. One of the main complicating factors is the multi-scale, three-dimensional nature of cement composite materials, damage processes and transport mechanisms. The proposed research addresses the need for model-based simulation, experimentation and visualization procedures that tie the material parameters (including those of the fiber components) to performance measures defined at the structural scale. While the focus here is on overlay systems for structural repair and retro fit, the proposed methods have general application toward optimizing the use of fiber-reinforced cement composites within the civil works infrastructure. The project involves interactive, iterative comparisons between model-based simulation results and data from in-house experimentation. The numerical model development, including development of pre-and post-processing modules, and experimentation will be conducted. First, the basic numerical algorithms will be coded on locally available computer facilities. As the algorithms near maturity, large scale simulations will be performed using both in-house high-performance computing resources and resources at the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (NPACI) based at the San Diego Supercomputer Center.