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Stress Evolution in Early-Age Cementitious Materials Considering Autogenous Deformation and Creep: New experimental and modelling techniques

Liang, M. (author)

Since the introduction of cementitious materials, shrinkage-induced earlyage cracking (EAC) has emerged as a significant issue that negatively influences the function, durability, and aesthetics of concrete structures like dams, tunnels, and underground garages. This thesis aims to develop new experimental and modelling techniques that help...

doctoral thesis 2024

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Peanut shaped auxetic cementitious cellular composite (ACCC)

Xie, J. (author), Xu, Y. (author), Meng, Z. (author), Liang, M. (author), Wan, Z. (author), Šavija, B. (author)

Auxetic cementitious cellular composites (ACCCs) exhibit desirable mechanical properties (e.g., high fracture resistance and energy dissipation), due to their unique deformation characteristics. In this study, a new type of cementitious auxetic material, referred to as peanut shaped ACCC, has been designed and subsequently architected using...

journal article 2024

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Automatic enhancement of vascular configuration for self-healing concrete through reinforcement learning approach

Wan, Z. (author), Xu, Y. (author), Chang, Z. (author), Liang, M. (author), Šavija, B. (author)

Vascular self-healing concrete (SHC) has great potential to mitigate the environmental impact of the construction industry by increasing the durability of structures. Designing concrete with high initial mechanical properties by searching a specific arrangement of vascular structure is of great importance. Herein, an automatic optimization...

journal article 2024

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Experimentally informed modeling of the early-age stress evolution in cementitious materials using exponential conversion from creep to relaxation

Liang, M. (author), Luzio, Giovanni Di (author), Schlangen, E. (author), Šavija, B. (author)

This study presents comprehensive numerical modeling methods for simulating early-age stress (EAS) relaxation in cementitious materials, based on the autogenous deformation (AD), elastic modulus, creep, and stress continuously tested by a mini temperature stress testing machine (Mini-TSTM) and a mini AD testing machine from a very early age ...

journal article 2024

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Autogenous deformation-induced stress evolution in cementitious materials considering viscoelastic properties: A review of experiments and models

Liang, M. (author), Xie, J. (author), He, S. (author), Chen, Y. (author), Schlangen, E. (author), Šavija, B. (author)

Early-age cracking risk induced by autogenous deformation is high for cementitious materials of low water-binder ratios. The autogenous deformation, viscoelastic properties, and stress evolution are three important factors for understanding and quantifying the early-age cracking risk. This paper systematically reviewed the experimental and...

review 2024

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Two scale models for fracture behaviours of cementitious materials subjected to static and cyclic loadings

Gan, Yidong (author), Liang, M. (author), Schlangen, E. (author), van Breugel, K. (author), Šavija, B. (author)

This study employs a lattice fracture model to simulate static and fatigue fracture behaviour of Interfacial Transition Zone (ITZ) at microscale and mortar at mesoscale. The heterogeneous microstructure of ITZ and mesostructure of mortar are explicitly considered in the models. The initial step involves calibrating and validating the...

journal article 2024

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Deep residual learning for acoustic emission source localization in A steel-concrete composite slab

Zhou, Y. (author), Liang, M. (author), Yue, X. (author)

Large errors can be introduced in traditional acoustic emission (AE) source localization methods using extracted signal features such as arrival time difference. This issue is obvious in the case of irregular structural geometries, complex composite structure types or presence of cracks in wave travel paths. In this study, based on a novel...

journal article 2023

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Effects of temperature on autogenous deformation and early-age stress evolution in cement pastes with low water to cement ratio

Liang, M. (author), Liu, C. (author), Liang, X. (author), Chang, Z. (author), Schlangen, E. (author), Šavija, B. (author)

This paper investigates the influence of temperature on autogenous deformation and early-age stress (EAS) evolution in ordinary Portland cement paste using a recently developed Mini Temperature Stress Testing Machine (Mini-TSTM) and Mini Autogenous Deformation Testing Machine (Mini-ADTM). In the Mini-TSTM/ ADTM, CEM I 42.5 N paste with a...

journal article 2023

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Distribution of porosity surrounding a microfiber in cement paste

He, S. (author), Chen, Y. (author), Liang, M. (author), Yang, En-Hua (author), Schlangen, E. (author)

This study investigates the microstructural changes of cement paste due to the inclusion of polymeric microfiber at different water-to-cement (w/c) ratios. A procedure to quantify the porosity of epoxy impregnated interfacial transition zone (ITZ) is also presented. Results show that the microstructures of the ITZ beneath and above a...

journal article 2023

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Ultra-thin Strain Hardening Cementitious Composite (SHCC) layer in reinforced concrete cover zone for crack width control

He, S. (author), Mustafa, S. (author), Chang, Z. (author), Liang, M. (author), Schlangen, E. (author), Lukovic, M. (author)

In the current study, experiments and numerical simulations were carried out to investigate the cracking behavior of reinforced concrete beams consisting of a very thin layer (i.e., 1 cm in thickness) of SHCC in the concrete cover, tension zone. A novel type of SHCC/concrete interface that features a weakened chemical adhesion but an enhanced...

journal article 2023

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On the chemo-mechanical evolution process of high-volume slag cement paste

Liang, M. (author), Zhang, Y. (author), He, S. (author), Chen, Y. (author), Schlangen, E. (author), Šavija, B. (author)

This study investigated the evolution process of high-volume slag cement (HVSC) paste from a chemo-mechanical standpoint. HVSC specimens with a 70 w.t. % slag replacement rate were studied at various ages. Evolution of phase assemblage, microstructure development, and micromechanical properties were analyzed using TGA/XRD/MIP/SEM-EDS and nano...

journal article 2023

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Predicting micromechanical properties of cement paste from backscattered electron (BSE) images by computer vision

Liang, M. (author), He, S. (author), Gan, Yidong (author), Zhang, Hongzhi (author), Chang, Z. (author), Schlangen, E. (author), Šavija, B. (author)

This paper employs computer vision techniques to predict the micromechanical properties (i.e., elastic modulus and hardness) of cement paste based on an input of Backscattered Electron (BSE) images. A dataset comprising 40,000 nanoindentation tests and 40,000 BSE micrographs was built by express nanoindentation test and Scanning Electron...

journal article 2023

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Lattice modelling of early-age creep of 3D printed segments with the consideration of stress history

Chang, Z. (author), Liang, M. (author), He, S. (author), Schlangen, E. (author), Šavija, B. (author)

We propose a new numerical method to analyze the early-age creep of 3D printed segments with the consideration of stress history. The integral creep strain evaluation formula is first expressed in a summation form using superposition principle. The experimentally derived creep compliance surface is then employed to calculate the creep strain...

journal article 2023

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Does early age creep influence buildability of 3D printed concrete? Insights from numerical simulations

Chang, Z. (author), Liang, M. (author), Chen, Y. (author), Schlangen, E. (author), Šavija, B. (author)

Cementitious materials may exhibit significant creep at very early age. This is potentially important for concrete 3D printing, where the material is progressively loaded even before it sets. However, does creep actually affect the buildability of 3D printed concrete? Herein, the influence of early-age creep on the buildability of 3D printed...

journal article 2023

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Autogenous deformation induced- stress evolution in high-volume GGBFS concrete: Macro-scale behavior and micro-scale origin

Liang, M. (author), Chang, Z. (author), Zhang, Y. (author), Cheng, H. (author), He, S. (author), Schlangen, E. (author), Šavija, B. (author)

This study aims to experimentally investigate the autogenous deformation and the stress evolution in restrained high-volume ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) concrete. The Temperature Stress Testing Machine (TSTM) and Autogenous Deformation Testing Machine (ADTM) were used to study the macro-scale autogenous deformation and stress...

journal article 2023

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Can superabsorbent polymers be used as rheology modifiers for cementitious materials in the context of 3D concrete printing?

Chen, Y. (author), Liang, M. (author), Zhang, Y. (author), Li, Z. (author), Šavija, B. (author), Schlangen, E. (author), Copuroglu, Oguzhan (author)

Autogenous shrinkage may be a critical issue concerning the use of limestone-calcined clay-cement (LC3) in high-performance concrete and 3D printable cementitious materials, which have relatively low water to binder (W/B) ratio. Adding an internal curing agent, i.e., superabsorbent polymer (SAP), could be a viable solution in this context....

journal article 2023

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Early-age creep of 3D printable mortar: Experiments and analytical modelling

Chang, Z. (author), Liang, M. (author), Xu, Y. (author), Wan, Z. (author), Schlangen, E. (author), Šavija, B. (author)

In this study, an experimental setup to characterize the early-age creep of 3D printable mortar was proposed. The testing protocol comprises quasi-static compressive loading-unloading cycles, with 180-s holding periods in between. An analytical model based on a double power law was used to predict creep compliance with hardening time and...

journal article 2023

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Rheology control of limestone calcined clay cement pastes by modifying the content of fine-grained metakaolin

Chen, Y. (author), Zhang, Y. (author), He, S. (author), Liang, M. (author), Zhang, Yamei (author), Schlangen, E. (author), Copuroglu, Oguzhan (author)

Limestone-calcined clay-cement (LC3), as one of the most promising sustainable cements, has been under development over the past decade. However, many uncertainties remain regarding its rheological behaviors, such as the metakaolin content of calcined clay. This study aims to investigate the effect of increasing the content of fine-grained...

journal article 2023

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Bayesian Inverse Modelling of Early-Age Stress Evolution in GGBFS Concrete Due to Autogenous Deformation and Aging Creep

Liang, M. (author), Schlangen, E. (author), Šavija, B. (author)

Stress evolution of restrained concrete is directly related to early-age cracking (EAC) potential of concrete, which is a tricky problem that often happens in engineering practice. Due to the global objective of carbon reduction, Ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) concrete has become a more promising binder comparing with Ordinary...

book chapter 2023

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A New Method to Quantitatively Characterize the Porosity of Fiber/Matrix Interfacial Transition Zone (ITZ) via Longitudinal Cross-Sections

He, S. (author), Liang, M. (author), Yang, En-hua (author), Schlangen, E. (author)

The properties of the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between microfiber and cement-based matrix are of primary significance for the overall behavior of strain hardening cementitious composites (SHCCs). However, due to the relatively small diameter of polymeric microfibers (e.g., PVA fiber), it is technically difficult to obtain...

book chapter 2023