Development of Smart Self-healing Cementitious Materials for Sustainable Infrastructure

提出的研究是一项重要的举措，以开发新的裂缝和免维护的建筑材料，以降低成本提高耐久性。长期目标是开发和实施一种新的方法，以诱导混凝土的自我感知和愈合功能，从而防止进一步的损伤，并恢复混凝土的原始特性。短期目标是：(i)进行一项实验调查，以评估几种现有技术的有效性，主要侧重于使用毛细管和微/纳米管，以及细菌和氰基丙烯酸酯乙基混凝土作为自愈剂；（ii）利用离散元法（DEM）和离散点阵梁法（DLBM）开发一种合适的数值模拟技术，该技术可以模拟自愈，并能够捕捉系统的微观和宏观响应；（iii）研究在全尺寸、工业规模的结构构件中扩展实验室规模的自修复过程的实际问题，以在新开发的材料中实现足够的灵活性，并确保它们在初始铸造中具有合理分布的自修复剂网络。拟议的研究将包括深入的实验和理论/数值研究，以解决自我修复系统的关键问题，以及技术，以及各种机械和环境条件下的损伤和愈合特性。这项工作还将密切研究将适当的自我修复实验室技术转移到现实生活中的结构部件的有效手段。它将通过精细和校准的数值模拟建模，更好地理解自我修复技术和过程，这将成为未来分析复合系统的可靠工具。这项研究将带来突破性的进展：所获得的知识将提高耐久性，最大限度地降低修复成本，减少建筑材料的使用，增加混凝土基础设施的生命周期；参与的学生将获得必要的知识和技能，使他们有资格在工业界和学术界做出重大贡献。

The proposed research is a significant initiative to develop new crack- and maintenance-free construction materials with enhanced durability at reduced cost. The long-term objective is to develop and implement a novel methodology to induce self-sensing and healing functions in concrete that may prevent further damage and result in recovery of the concrete's original characteristics. The short-term objectives are to: (i) conduct an experimental investigation to assess the effectiveness of several existing techniques, with a primary focus on the use of capillary tubes and micro/nano-tubes, and bacterial and ethyl cyanoacrylate-based concrete as self-healing agents; (ii) develop, using both the discrete element method (DEM) and the discrete lattice beam method (DLBM), a suitable numerical modeling technique that simulates self-healing and is capable of capturing the microscopic and macroscopic responses of the system; and (iii) investigate the practical issues of expanding lab-scale self-healing processes in full-size, industrial-scale structural members to achieve sufficient flexibility in the newly developed materials and ensure they perform adequately in initial casting with a reasonably distributed network of self-healing agents. The proposed research will include in-depth experimental and theoretical/numerical investigations that address key issues of self-healing systems, as well as techniques, and damage and healing characterization under various mechanical and environmental conditions. The work will also closely examine effective means of transferring suitable self-healing laboratory techniques to real-life structural components. It will provide a better understanding of self-healing techniques and processes through refined and calibrated numerical simulation modeling that will serve as a reliable tool for future analysis of the composite system. This research will bring about groundbreaking advances: the knowledge gained will enhance durability, minimize rehabilitation costs, reduce the use of construction materials and increase the life cycle of concrete infrastructure; participating students will gain essential knowledge and skills that will qualify them to make significant contributions in both industry and academia.