Development of Smart Self-healing Cementitious Materials for Sustainable Infrastructure

这项拟议的研究是开发新的无裂缝和免维护建筑材料的重要举措，该材料具有更高的耐久性，并降低了成本。长期目标是开发和实施一种新的方法，在混凝土中诱导自我感知和愈合功能，以防止进一步破坏并恢复混凝土的原始特性。短期目标是：(1)开展一项实验调查，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乙酯混凝土作为自愈剂；(2)利用离散单元法(DEM)和离散格子梁方法(DLBM)，开发一种模拟自愈并能够捕捉系统微观和宏观响应的合适的数值模拟技术；以及(Iii)研究在全尺寸、工业规模的结构构件中扩大实验室规模的自修复过程以在新开发的材料中实现足够的灵活性并确保它们在具有合理分布的自愈剂网络的初始铸造中表现良好的实际问题。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，以及各种机械和环境条件下的损伤和修复特征。这项工作还将密切研究将合适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方法。它将通过改进和校准的数值模拟模型提供对自我修复技术和过程的更好的理解，这些模型将作为未来分析复合系统的可靠工具。这项研究将带来开创性的进步：所获得的知识将提高耐久性，将修复成本降至最低，减少建筑材料的使用，并延长混凝土基础设施的生命周期；参与研究的学生将获得必要的知识和技能，使他们有资格在工业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.