Track 1: Instabilities and Strain Localization
Concrete and rock are often modelled as strain-softening continua. One salient feature of strain-softening continua is that it exhibits localization instability under many loading scenarios. Localization instability leads to many intricate phenomena, such as size effect in failure, mesh sensitivity in finite element simulations, transitional failure patterns, shear band, etc. These phenomena pose fundamental challenges in analysis and design of many engineering structures and processes. Recent developments in novel analytical tools, computational models, and experimental techniques have provided new insights into the understanding and modeling of localization instability. This track welcomes contributions on a range of related research topics, which include multiscale and multiphysics computational modeling, discrete particle modeling, stochastic modeling, localization limiters, and novel experimental characterization of localization instability.
Concrete Chair: Jia-Liang Le (USA)
Poromechanics Chair: Jose Andrade (USA)
Track 2: Creep and Plasticity
Under thermo-hydro-chemo-mechanical loadings, materials can deform homogeneously and irreversibly. Those deformations occur rather instantaneously and/or instead evolve over time, thus leading to plasticity and creep, which are the topics of this track. Here, we aim at gathering research efforts devoted to the study of these phenomena, over a wide range of scales and over a wide scope. Experimental characterization of creep and plastic properties from the structural scale (e.g. field testing), to the material macroscopic scale (e.g. samples under complex states of stresses), down to the smallest scales (e.g. through indentation) are relevant to the track. Modeling efforts are also relevant, may they be macroscopic and aiming for instance at providing more accurate macroscopic models for the engineer, or microscopic and aiming for instance at shedding light on the physical origin of creep and plasticity. The interplay between creep and plasticity is also in the scope of the track, as well as, for porous materials, the role of the porosity on those physical processes.
Concrete Chair: Mija Hubler (USA)
Poromechanics Chair: Matthieu Van Damme (France)
Track 3 Fracture Propagation, Long-Term Deterioration and Healing
This track will gather presentations in the area of time-dependent damage and healing processes in porous solids with special attention to fracture propagation and multi-decade properties. Topics of interest include, but are not restricted to:
- Methods for understanding and predicting degradation and healing; theoretical, numerical, experimental and practical contributions are all welcome;
- Experimental, analytical and numerical investigations of fracture propagation, strain-rate effects and sub-critical crack growth due to sustained and fatigue loading;
- New developments related to optimized self-healing capabilities, repair techniques, and treatments to enhance the degradation resistance;
- Applications to the design of geotechnical structures that contain concrete and natural materials, e.g. tunnels (liner and rock mass), storage facilities, retaining walls, dams; foundation slabs;
- Response of porous materials to aggressive environments, e.g. freeze and thaw, chemical weathering, high salt concentration, low pH.
Each session will contain presentations both in concrete science and in geomechanics pertaining to related sub-topics with the intention to highlight the commonalities, discover historic differences in approach and ultimately promote collaborations towards a more efficient multi-disciplinary research strategy in order to address the challenges related to the multi-decade or even multi-centennial design of structures.
Concrete Chair: Roman Wan-Wender (Belgium)
Poromechanics Chair: Tal Cohen (USA)
Track 4: Multiphysical Couplings and Transport Phenomena
The engineering applications involving porous materials, including geological media, concrete or biomaterials, are numerous within the fields of energy recovery/storage, civil engineering and bio-mechanics. Such porous materials usually show strong couplings between deformation and transport properties at various length scales. Furthermore, they often exhibit a broad range of pore or defect sizes, and the nature of transport varies with observation scale. The transport of substances may cause volumetric instabilities that induce cracking or other forms of damage. Cracking, in turn, may drastically alter the transport properties of the material. Interactions with the environment, or the development of material structure over time due to growth or ageing processes, also influence behavior. Effective engineering for these applications thus requires an understanding of the coupled influences of thermal, hygral, chemical, and mechanical phenomena acting over relevant length and time scales. This track welcomes contributions within the general subject area of multi-field processes and transport phenomena in porous media. Contributions stemming from theoretical developments, physical experimentation or numerical modeling are all encouraged. One goal is to share knowledge and identify commonalities between different disciplines and modes of study.
Concrete Chair: John Bolander (USA)
Poromechanics Chair: Jean-Michel Pereira (France)
Track 5: Partially Saturated Porous Materials, Surface Effects and Adsorption
Partial saturation occurs in natural and man-made materials, such as in geological formation and concrete. It can be two-phase involving air and water, or multiphase with gas, water, and oil. The energy is contained not only in the phase volumes, but also in the interfaces, or the menisci. Its responses are hysteretic. Its modeling can involve mechanical, thermal, chemical, and electrochemical forces. In microporous and nanoporous materials, such as coal, clay, and zeolites, the picture is further complicated by the adsorption of fluid onto the surface, which can induce effects such as swelling and modify friction and surface tension. Important applications include slope stability, material failure, seismic wave propagation, hydrocarbon production, geosequestration, energy storage, concrete hydration, etc. This track seeks contributions on the modeling of these phenomena, and in particular, the constitutive models that enable applications. Other works on fundamental physics and applications are also welcome.
Concrete Chair: Gilles Pijaudier-Cabot (France)
Poromechanics Chair: Alex Cheng (USA)
Track 6: Relation Between Microstructure and Properties: Modeling and Characterization
Designing and controlling the linear and non-linear mechanical response of materials as complex as concrete and granular or porous solids require unravelling the link between microscopic structure or processes and macroscopic properties. Nano and microscale spectroscopy, mechanics and imaging, molecular and mesoscale modeling or other discrete computational methods are central to build the bridge to continuum mechanics theories that can predict emergence of plasticity, yielding, flow localization or creep. This Track will cover the latest discussions on characterization techniques, modeling approaches and theoretical/computational developments over different lengthscales. Contributions combining modeling and experimental studies and bringing novel insight into emerging material properties are particularly welcome.
Concrete Chair: Emanuela Del Gado (USA)
Poromechanics Chair: Christian Hellmich (Austria)
Track 7: Geodynamics, Wave Propagation, and Long-Term Structural Health Monitoring
Mechanical, thermal, and transport phenomena all impact the design, behavior, and measurement of large scale structural, geotechnical, and tectonic systems. These systems may evolve over time scales that span many orders of magnitude, from seconds up to centuries. This track welcomes contributions on the following topics, among other related fields:
- Infrastructure Design: novel design paradigms for tall concrete buildings, long-span bridges, or geotechnical structures that are resilient to changes in time, whether from dynamic events or long-term deformations.
- Large-Scale Monitoring: case studies, novel techniques, and lessons learned from long-term in-situ monitoring applications of infrastructural or geological systems
- Geodynamics and Geodesy: measurement and prediction of tectonic-scale deformations.
Concrete Chair: Brock Hedegaard (USA)
Poromechanics Chair: Domniki Asimaki (USA)