CAREER: Linking Nanoscale and Macroscale Viscoelastic Responses of Cementitious Materials

本职业计划的教育和研究部分的总体目的是促进对土木工程界多尺度材料行为的更好理解。研究计划的主要目的是将纳米级水泥浆体固有的老化粘弹性特性与硅酸盐水泥浆体的宏观粘弹性响应联系起来。该研究计划将利用综合实验、分析和计算材料科学方法来模拟水化硅酸盐水泥纳米相固有的老化粘弹性特性。随后，采用复合微观结构有限元模型对散装水泥浆体的老化粘弹性特性进行建模。教育计划的主要目标是培养学生的能力。类比库存吗?以类比作为抽象的多尺度材料科学概念的教学工具，提高未来土木工程师的教育水平。拟议的研究和教育计划将最终改变混凝土的设计方式，从而产生更安全、更可持续的混凝土基础设施。教育部分将为未来的工程师修改材料科学课程，使他们更好地掌握纳米尺度特性对工程材料宏观行为的影响，使多尺度材料研究的发现能够迅速应用于实践。为创建类比清单而开发的框架将适用于其他学科，最终影响整个工程教育。此外，该项目中开发的纳米尺度老化粘弹性特性建模方法将适用于其他几个研究领域，包括生物力学和聚合物科学。

The overall purpose of both the educational and research components of this CAREER plan is to foster an improved understanding of multi-scale material behavior in the civil engineering community. The principal objective of the research plan is to link the inherent, aging viscoelastic properties of the nanometric, cement paste phases to macroscale viscoelastic response of portland cement paste. The research plan will utilize an integrated experimental, analytical, and computational materials science approach to model the inherent aging viscoelastic properties of the nanometric phases of hydrating portland cement. Subsequently, the aging viscoelastic properties of bulk cement paste will be modeled using composite microstructural finite element models. The principal objective of the education plan is to develop an ?analogy inventory? for improved education of future civil engineers with analogies as teaching tools of abstract multi-scale materials science concepts. The proposed research and education plan will ultimately transform the way concrete is designed, resulting in safer, more sustainable concrete infrastructure. The educational component will revamp materials science curricula for future engineers so that they have an improved grasp of the influence of nanoscale properties on macroscale behavior of engineering materials, allowing the findings from multi-scale material research to be rapidly adopted in practice. The framework developed for the creation of analogy inventories will be applicable to alternative disciplines, ultimately affecting engineering education as a whole. Additionally, the methodology developed in this project for modeling nanoscale aging viscoelastic properties will be applicable to several other fields of study including biomechanics and polymer science.