ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
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- All Subjects: Micromechanical
- All Subjects: Novel Construction Materials
- Creators: Mobasher, Barzin
Description
Being a remarkably versatile and inexpensive building material, concrete has found tremendous use in development of modern infrastructure and is the most widely used material in the world. Extensive research in the field of concrete has led to the development of a wide array of concretes with applications ranging from building of skyscrapers to paving of highways. These varied applications require special cementitious composites which can satisfy the demand for enhanced functionalities such as high strength, high durability and improved thermal characteristics among others.
The current study focuses on the fundamental understanding of such functional composites, from their microstructural design to macro-scale application. More specifically, this study investigates three different categories of functional cementitious composites. First, it discusses the differences between cementitious systems containing interground and blended limestone with and without alumina. The interground systems are found to outperform the blended systems due to differential grinding of limestone. A novel approach to deduce the particle size distribution of limestone and cement in the interground systems is proposed. Secondly, the study delves into the realm of ultra-high performance concrete, a novel material which possesses extremely high compressive-, tensile- and flexural-strength and service life as compared to regular concrete. The study presents a novel first principles-based paradigm to design economical ultra-high performance concretes using locally available materials. In the final part, the study addresses the thermal benefits of a novel type of concrete containing phase change materials. A software package was designed to perform numerical simulations to analyze temperature profiles and thermal stresses in concrete structures containing PCMs.
The design of these materials is accompanied by material characterization of cementitious binders. This has been accomplished using techniques that involve measurement of heat evolution (isothermal calorimetry), determination and quantification of reaction products (thermo-gravimetric analysis, x-ray diffraction, micro-indentation, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy) and evaluation of pore-size distribution (mercury intrusion porosimetry). In addition, macro-scale testing has been carried out to determine compression, flexure and durability response. Numerical simulations have been carried out to understand hydration of cementitious composites, determine optimum particle packing and determine the thermal performance of these composites.
The current study focuses on the fundamental understanding of such functional composites, from their microstructural design to macro-scale application. More specifically, this study investigates three different categories of functional cementitious composites. First, it discusses the differences between cementitious systems containing interground and blended limestone with and without alumina. The interground systems are found to outperform the blended systems due to differential grinding of limestone. A novel approach to deduce the particle size distribution of limestone and cement in the interground systems is proposed. Secondly, the study delves into the realm of ultra-high performance concrete, a novel material which possesses extremely high compressive-, tensile- and flexural-strength and service life as compared to regular concrete. The study presents a novel first principles-based paradigm to design economical ultra-high performance concretes using locally available materials. In the final part, the study addresses the thermal benefits of a novel type of concrete containing phase change materials. A software package was designed to perform numerical simulations to analyze temperature profiles and thermal stresses in concrete structures containing PCMs.
The design of these materials is accompanied by material characterization of cementitious binders. This has been accomplished using techniques that involve measurement of heat evolution (isothermal calorimetry), determination and quantification of reaction products (thermo-gravimetric analysis, x-ray diffraction, micro-indentation, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy) and evaluation of pore-size distribution (mercury intrusion porosimetry). In addition, macro-scale testing has been carried out to determine compression, flexure and durability response. Numerical simulations have been carried out to understand hydration of cementitious composites, determine optimum particle packing and determine the thermal performance of these composites.
ContributorsArora, Aashay (Author) / Neithalath, Narayanan (Thesis advisor) / Rajan, Subramaniam D. (Committee member) / Mobasher, Barzin (Committee member) / Chawla, Nikhilesh (Committee member) / Hoover, Christian G (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Ultra High Performance (UHP) cementitious binders are a class of cement-based materials with high strength and ductility, designed for use in precast bridge connections, bridge superstructures, high load-bearing structural members like columns, and in structural repair and strengthening. This dissertation aims to elucidate the chemo-mechanical relationships in complex UHP binders to facilitate better microstructure-based design of these materials and develop machine learning (ML) models to predict their scale-relevant properties from microstructural information.To establish the connection between micromechanical properties and constitutive materials, nanoindentation and scanning electron microscopy experiments are performed on several cementitious pastes. Following Bayesian statistical clustering, mixed reaction products with scattered nanomechanical properties are observed, attributable to the low degree of reaction of the constituent particles, enhanced particle packing, and very low water-to-binder ratio of UHP binders. Relating the phase chemistry to the micromechanical properties, the chemical intensity ratios of Ca/Si and Al/Si are found to be important parameters influencing the incorporation of Al into the C-S-H gel.
ML algorithms for classification of cementitious phases are found to require only the intensities of Ca, Si, and Al as inputs to generate accurate predictions for more homogeneous cement pastes. When applied to more complex UHP systems, the overlapping chemical intensities in the three dominant phases – Ultra High Stiffness (UHS), unreacted cementitious replacements, and clinker – led to ML models misidentifying these three phases. Similarly, a reduced amount of data available on the hard and stiff UHS phases prevents accurate ML regression predictions of the microstructural phase stiffness using only chemical information. The use of generic virtual two-phase microstructures coupled with finite element analysis is also adopted to train MLs to predict composite mechanical properties. This approach applied to three different representations of composite materials produces accurate predictions, thus providing an avenue for image-based microstructural characterization of multi-phase composites such UHP binders. This thesis provides insights into the microstructure of the complex, heterogeneous UHP binders and the utilization of big-data methods such as ML to predict their properties. These results are expected to provide means for rational, first-principles design of UHP mixtures.
ML algorithms for classification of cementitious phases are found to require only the intensities of Ca, Si, and Al as inputs to generate accurate predictions for more homogeneous cement pastes. When applied to more complex UHP systems, the overlapping chemical intensities in the three dominant phases – Ultra High Stiffness (UHS), unreacted cementitious replacements, and clinker – led to ML models misidentifying these three phases. Similarly, a reduced amount of data available on the hard and stiff UHS phases prevents accurate ML regression predictions of the microstructural phase stiffness using only chemical information. The use of generic virtual two-phase microstructures coupled with finite element analysis is also adopted to train MLs to predict composite mechanical properties. This approach applied to three different representations of composite materials produces accurate predictions, thus providing an avenue for image-based microstructural characterization of multi-phase composites such UHP binders. This thesis provides insights into the microstructure of the complex, heterogeneous UHP binders and the utilization of big-data methods such as ML to predict their properties. These results are expected to provide means for rational, first-principles design of UHP mixtures.
ContributorsFord, Emily Lucile (Author) / Neithalath, Narayanan (Thesis advisor) / Rajan, Subramaniam D. (Committee member) / Mobasher, Barzin (Committee member) / Chawla, Nikhilesh (Committee member) / Hoover, Christian G. (Committee member) / Maneparambil, Kailas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020