HYPERCON: Prediction and Optimization of Concrete PerformanceObjective: To develop and implement computational and experimental materials science-based techniques that will enable the prediction and optimization of the initial cost and service life performance and minimize the environmental impact of concrete in the built infrastructure. Problem: The most important overall problem in the U.S. and world-wide concrete industry, which drives HYPERCON research, has been neatly summarized by the National Ready-Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) in their bold P2P initiative. P2P stands for “Prescription to Performance” and indicates the desire of the NRMCA to change all concrete specifications from a prescriptive form, which does not allow innovation and proprietary formulation, to a performance form, which will drive innovation and research for proprietary advantage in the marketplace. The key problem for the industry and thus the key driver for the HYPERCON program is this: supporting workable performance specifications requires a much higher level of materials science understanding and performance prediction in the standard tests used by industry. This problem is hard to solve since concrete is a random, complex, multi-scale, time-dependent composite material. The P2P initiative carries significant weight in the industry, since ready-mixed concrete manufacturers use 75 % of all cement produced in the U.S. The key standard concrete tests involve component material analysis, workability, curing, mechanical properties, and transport and reaction mechanisms and rates (durability). This is exactly the technical core of the HYPERCON program and the reason behind its organization. The HYPERCON program, and its major product, the Virtual Cement and Concrete Testing Laboratory (VCCTL), are well positioned to help the concrete industry achieve the goal of transforming a prescriptive craft-based industry to a performance science-based industry by giving a materials-science based performance prediction capability to the cement and concrete industry. This concept can then be used in areas of the world like China and India, where there is an enormous and still-growing use of concrete almost totally without performance-based standards. Approach: The heart of the HYPERCON program is the experimental and computational materials science fundamental research core, which supports the applied areas of durability, property prediction, and cement and concrete standards and measurement science. An approach using a synergistic combination of experimental and computational materials science, in the world of cement and concrete, is unique to NIST, and is the only way to make headway in this complex, amorphous material. A former VCCTL consortium member has stated, “we can do empirical research. We need you (NIST) to do the fundamental research that we can’t do” (Mr. Al Innis, Vice-President for Quality Assurance and Research, Holcim). The various projects that make up HYPERCON are strongly inter-linked, each supporting the effort in other projects. Recent Results: • HYPERCON researcher Dale Bentz has received the American Concrete Institute’s (ACI) Wason Medal for Materials Research for the paper entitled “Mixture Proportioning for Internal Curing.” The Wason Medal for Materials Research was established by ACI in 1917 for “original research work on concrete materials and their use, or a discovery that advances the state of knowledge of materials used in the construction industry.” He was also selected as the recipient of the Frank G. Erskine award by the Expanded Shale, Clay, and Slate Institute for his research on internal curing using lightweight aggregates. Related Projects - Estimate economic impacts resulting from BFRL’s research in support of its Virtual Cement and Concrete Testing Laboratory (VCCTL). |
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Last updated: 1/15/2008