Fundamental Performance Characteristics of Limestone Calcined Clay Cement (LC3) Concretes at Early Age
About this project
Project description
Limestone calcined clay cement (LC3) concretes have a great potential to deliver substantial reduction in global emissions related to cement and concrete manufacture and use. However, there remain serious knowledge gaps regarding the fundamental performance characteristics of limestone calcined clay cement (LC3) concretes from very early age.
Through using a unique combination of novel tests, this research aims to generate a comprehensive set of reliable data to holistically examine key fundamental performance characteristics of limestone calcined clay cement (LC3) concretes from very early age. Such early-age performance characteristics include autogenous shrinkage, drying shrinkage, thermal deformation, creep, relaxation, tensile properties, fracture mechanics parameters, stresses due to restrained deformation (among others) from the time of casting.
Together with the combined extensive expertise of the two research groups at the University of Queensland (UQ) and IIT-Delhi, the unique set of test-setups at the University of Queensland (accumulated over the last >10 years) for these tests (including the direct tensile test, temperature-stress testing machine-TSTM) allow to successfully achieve of intended aims of this multidisciplinary research.
The PhD student will spend the first year at IIT-Delhi to consolidate and extend her/his background on LC3 concrete, before conducting the experimental part in the second year at UQ, and then finalising her/his thesis work.
Outcomes
The key deliverables from the project will be as below:
– Quantification of autogenous shrinkage of LC3 concretes compared to other cements.
– Quantification of creep and relaxation of LC3 concretes compared to other cements.
– Quantification of early-age mechanical properties of LC3 concretes.
– Recommendations on design of structures using LC3 keeping in view the early-age performance of the cement.
Information for applicants
Essential capabilities
Good background in concrete technology and structures
Desireable capabilities
Knowledge on general materials / concrete testing techniques, finite element (FE) methods
Expected qualifications (Course/Degrees etc.)
Masters degree in Civil Engineering; Bachelor degree with First-Class Honours in Civil Engineering