I-Corps: Sustainable Infrastructure Rehabilitation

美国民用基础设施令人担忧的状况已经有了很好的记录。另有记录表明，目前现场约50%的维修失败，需要昂贵的重新维修。除了经济以外，反复维修对环境和交通流动性造成了高昂的成本。修复失败可以追溯到修复砂浆的脆性和它们从基材上剥离的倾向。在这个项目中，该团队提出了一种延性纤维增强水泥基复合材料，它可以抑制脆性断裂和分层，并且在受损时可以自我修复。这种材料一旦应用，就可以永久保护原有的基础设施，延长其使用寿命。通过将一种工程水泥复合材料(ECC)引入民用基础设施行业，预计将在多个方面产生广泛影响。这些措施包括降低基础设施维护的生命周期成本，增强交通基础设施的用户机动性，以及减少民用基础设施的建设和反复维修所造成的环境成本和影响。拟议的团队已经开发出具有不同功能的ECC，包括轻量化、低刚性和自愈性ECC。轻质ECC的密度约为普通混凝土的40%。这直接转化为减少相同百分比的路面板重量、从预制场到建筑工地的运输成本以及安装过程中对起重机械的能力要求。近年来，人们用回收的轮胎橡胶代替刚性集料，研制出了一种低E-刚性的ECC。这种材料刚度的降低会转化为相同百分比的楼板刚度降低。自我修复转化为下一代路面板材的独特零维护功能。

The alarming condition of civil infrastructures in the US has been well documented. It has also been documented that about 50% of current repairs in the field fail, requiring costly re-repairs. Beyond economics, repeated repairs pose a high cost to the environment and to transportation mobility. Repair failure can be traced to the brittleness of repair mortars and their tendency to delaminate from the substrate. In this project, the team proposes a ductile fiber reinforced cement based composite that suppresses brittle fracture and delamination, and that can undergo self-healing, when damaged. This material, once applied, can permanently protects the original infrastructure and extend its service life. By introducing an engineered cementitious composite (ECC) material into the civil infrastructure industry, the tam expects broad impacts on a number of fronts. These include lowering lifecycle costs of infrastructure maintenance, enhancing user mobility on transportation infrastructure, and reducing environmental costs and impacts caused by the construction and repeated repairs of civil infrastructure. The proposed team has developed ECCs with different functionalities, including lightweight, low stiffness, and self-healing ECC. Lightweight ECC has a density about 40% that of normal concrete. This translates directly to a reduced pavement slab weight by the same percentage, transport cost from precast yard to construction site, and hoisting machine capacity requirement during installation. Recently, a low E-stiffness ECC was developed using recycled tire-rubber in place of rigid aggregates in ECC. This material stiffness reduction translates into a slab stiffness reduction by the same percentage. Self-healing translates into a unique zero-maintenance feature for next-generation pavement slabs.