The team, led by Sandia principal investigator Jessica Rimsza, developed new modeling capabilities for evaluating multiphase phenomena in cement-based materials in energy and infrastructure applications, a chemo-mechanical model for cement fracture, identified sources of uncertainty in cement degradation and concrete fracture, and created six new capabilities for modeling brittle fracture in the open-source code Peridigm.
Academic collaborations with the University of New Mexico, University of Colorado Boulder, and Purdue provided evaluation of concrete fracture in gravity dam structures and the degradation and clay composition on evolving cement fracture. A funded strategic initiative on decarbonization of cement manufacturing incorporated the work; DOE Earthshot included content on the project; and a white paper was authored for the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. Potential benefits to DOE and the Department of Homeland Security are based on an improved ability to predict the stability and improve the resiliency of cement-/concrete-based infrastructure, explicitly described as a focus of DOE in the Office of Fossil Energy and Geothermal Technologies Office.
Sandia researchers linked to work
- Jessica Rimsza
- Timothy Fuller
- David John Littlewood
- Reese Jones
Sponsored by
Associated Publications
Stevenson, C. A., Scheirey, S., Monroe, J., Zhang, R., Main, E., Jones, O., Cheah, W. B., Park, S., Nobbe, B., Sura, I., Rimsza, J., & Beaudoin, S. P. (2023). The effects of surface and particle properties on adhesion in humid environments using the enhanced centrifuge method. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 656, 130478.
Mageeney, C., Trubl, G., & Williams, K. (2022). Improved Mobilome Delineation in Fragmented Genomes. Frontiers in Bioinformatics. 2.
Torrencea, C.E., Tragesera, J.E., Jones, R.E. & Rimsza J.M. (2022). Sensitivity of the strength and toughness of concrete to the properties of the Interfacial Transition Zone. Construction and Building Materials, 336, 126875.
Relevant Content
2020 American Ceramics Society, Virtual Glass Summit, 2020, Atomistic Computer Simulations of Dissolution of Inorganic Glasses
2019 American Chemical Society, Spring 2019 ACS National Meeting, Mechanisms of Chemo-Mechanical Fracture of Silica in Aqueous Electrolyte Solutions