1. MAI/ITECH training session: Micromechanics and civil engineering, an introduction

This (new) “behind the scenes” course is an expanded version of the short (2 h) MAI remote training organized in september 2021.

Concrete and cementitious materials properties and behaviors are of paramount importance to manage long term operation of civil engineering structures. Engineers require relevant material properties and behaviors to perform structural finite element computations and to interpret most non destructive techniques. As concrete mixes are very diverse, properties from one concrete may not be suitable for another one.

Micromechanics and, broadly speaking, homogenization techniques, allow to investigate composite materials behaviors and properties from their microstructure and micromechanisms. They form a toolbox of choice to build physics-informed models relating properties to mix design, or cross-relating several properties (ex: for non destructive techniques based on indirect measurements).

This short course proposes an introduction to basic principles of micromechanics and some applications to civil engineering issues.

Objectives:

– get an overview of concrete civil engineering questions at EDF lab that have been investigated through micromechanics,

– get familiar with basic principles of homogenization of random media,

– experiment on simple cases through Python scripts,

– see practical applications to different materials and issues.

Audience:

– students, engineers and researchers in the field of civil engineering, with background in continuum mechanics.

Date and location:

– 28 september 2023,

– EDF Lab les Renardières; 77250 Ecuelles – Moret-Loing-et-Orvanne; FRANCE.

For more details, please contact:

– Administrative information: Chaveli Bitsindou (chaveli.bitsindou@edf.fr),

– Technical information: Julien Sanahuja (julien.sanahuja@edf.fr).

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  1. MAI/ITECH workshop: “Micromechanics of cementitious materials”

The aim of this workshop is to provide an international forum for reporting progress and recent advances in micromechanics and its applications to cementitious materials, and to foster collaborations on these techniques.

Topics include, but are not restricted to: multiscale methods and tools, advanced experimental techniques to provide input or validation data, microstructure investigation and modeling, non destructive testing, delayed strains, swelling phenomena, strength, damage, degradation mechanisms, transport properties.

Contributions are warmly welcomed!

Abstracts should be submitted by e-mail to the technical contacts provided below, before 31 july 2023.

Date and location:

– 29 september 2023,

– EDF Lab les Renardières; 77250 Ecuelles – Moret-Loing-et-Orvanne; FRANCE.

For more details, please contact:

– Administrative information: Chaveli Bitsindou (chaveli.bitsindou@edf.fr),

– Technical information: Julien Sanahuja (julien.sanahuja@edf.fr).

The MAI is also a training centre !
🌍 We had the pleasure to welcome international students from the MaNuEn master last week at the MAI. This master is a 2-year programme for students wishing to work in the nuclear industry, in R&D or for research organisations. MaNuEn covers the specificities of materials used in nuclear environment with a particular focus on their durability under irradiation.

💡 This was a great opportunity for them to meet EDF R&D teams who are at the forefront of the research on nuclear materials ageing processes and who work daily to ensure that our nuclear power plants operate in a safe way on a longer term !

👏 Congratulations to the students for their dynamism throughout the week and many thanks to the EDF R&D researchers for their availabilities and the quality of the courses given.
Nyhal MEGHIREF, PhD, Yannick Nziakou, PhD, Jean-Christophe Le Roux, Romain VERLET, Claire Rainasse, Julien Sanahuja, Rémy Bonzom, Aurore PARROT, Adèle Astorg, Martin Bachet, Yang SHEN, Alexis GRAUX, Andreas Schumm, Pierre-Emile Lhuillier, Chaveli BITSINDOU & Jean-Pierre Hutin.

Matteo Canducci, Emanuele Diana, Alessandro Regionesi, Vuk Manojlović, Fehim Fatih Kup, Eloi Pallares Abril, Ria Meston, Lautaro Lopez Perezlindo, Daniel Francisco Zarate Parra, Mathieu Robin, Stanislas Raguin, Xavier ojeda

The aim of this workshop is to provide an international forum for reporting progress and recent advances in micromechanics and its applications to cementitious materials.

Topics include, but are not restricted to: multiscale methods and tools, advanced experimental techniques to provide input or validation data, microstructure investigation and modeling, non destructive testing, delayed strains, swelling phenomena, strength, damage, degradation mechanisms, transport properties.

Contributions are warmly welcomed.

Abstracts should be submitted by e-mail to the technical contacts provided below.

  • Date and location:

Wednesday 29 september 2021, whole day, Teams remote meeting.

  • Practical aspects:

– Official announcement on MAI website:

https://www.themai.org/workshops/

– Free but mandatory registration:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfvg9P7UMYoLR0TS_RTaaB5zRlacjnO1BuQPjoodzYk_jIJzw/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0

  • For more details, please contact:

– Administrative information: Liloo Moutot (liloo.moutot@edf.fr),

– Technical information: Julien Sanahuja (julien.sanahuja@edf.fr).

Concrete and cementitious materials properties and behaviors are of paramount importance to manage long term operation of civil engineering structures. Relevant material properties and behaviors are required to perform structural finite element computations and to interpret most non destructive techniques. As concrete mixes are very diverse, properties from one concrete may not be suitable for another one.

Micromechanics and, broadly speaking, homogenization techniques, allow to investigate composite materials behaviors and properties from their microstructure and micromechanisms. They form a toolbox of choice to build physics-informed models relating properties to mix design, or cross-relating several properties (for non destructive techniques based on indirect measurements, eg: measure permittivity to assess water content).

This short online course (1H30) proposes an introduction to basic principles of micromechanics and some applications to civil engineering.

Objectives :

– Get an overview of concrete civil engineering questions at EDF R&D that have been investigated through micromechanics,

– Get familiar with basic principles of micromechanics,

– Experience a demonstration of a software toolbox dedicated to estimating concrete properties and behavior.

Audience :

– Engineers and researchers in the field of civil engineering, with backgrounds in continuum mechanics and mechanics of materials.

This training is free and will be performed on line.

If you are interested on this training :

  • Date: Monday 20 september 2021
  • Time: 13h00 – 15h00 CEST
  • Free but mandatory registration:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfvg9P7UMYoLR0TS_RTaaB5zRlacjnO1BuQPjoodzYk_jIJzw/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0

Morpho paste : One important starting point of micromechanical models is microstructure representation. The figure shows a 3D morphological simplification of the cement paste microstructure.

Permit paste : A classical non destructive technique to assess water content is permittivity measurement. However, this indirect approach requires a “calibration curve” relating dielectric permittivity to water content, this curve depending on the concrete at stake. The experimental process is heavily time-consuming, mainly due to the very slow drying processes. A model based on homogenization has been recently developed: it is parametrized by the mix design. The plot shows a comparison to experimental measurements on a cement paste.

MODERATO is a software package for the computer modelling of industrial radiography. It combines Monte-Carlo and straight line attenuation models with an intuitive user interface, making radiography modelling an accessible tool on a personal computer. However, as with all simulation programs, a thorough understanding of the inner workings of MODERATO is necessary to fully exploit the package. See more information on Moderato Code

The MAI has delivered a new version of MODERATO code in August 2020.

Discover the code and the new features with a remote training (1hour). If interested, please contact liloo.moutot@edf.fr. Reserved for MAI members. If you are not a MAI member, please contact Hing-Ip.Wong@edf.fr.

Due to Covid 19, all international in-person events have been cancelled or postponed to 2021. If you need further information, please contact us.

Moret sur Loing
December 4th to 5th,  2019

Scope and Objective

The aim of this workshop is to provide an international forum for reporting progress and recent advances in micromechanics and its applications to cementious materials.Topics include, but are not restricted to : multiscale methods and tools, advanced experimental techniques to validate models or provide input data, microstructure investigation and modelling, non destructive testing, delayed strains, swelling phenomena, damage, degradation mechanisms, transport properties.

MAI, Moret-sur-loing (France)
April 5th to 7th, 2016

Scope and Objective
The recent development in numerical simulation has enabled researchers and engineers to handle more and more realistic models of materials and structures. However, the precision of the simulation results can be affected by an uncertainty in the model parameters, due either to a lack of knowledge or to the intrinsic variability of some physical quantity. The training course is aimed at providing tools in order to account for the input parameter uncertainty and to study their impact on the model responses of interest.

MAI, Moret-sur-loing (France)
March 29th to 31th, 2016
Restricted to MAI members who are also EPRI members.

MAI, Moret-sur-loing (France)
March 7th to 9th, 2016

MAI, Moret-sur-loing (France)
June 4th to 5th, 2015

Scope and Objective
Nickel alloys with limited chromium content (<20%) suffer intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) when they are exposed to the primary water of pressurized water reactors (PWRs). According to IGSCC test results, intergranular oxidation kinetics plays a major role in IGSCC mechanisms. Oxide examinations suggest that oxidation is strongly depending on environmental conditions (temperature, pH, potential…), metallurgical (chromium content, grain boundaries…) and mechanical parameters (dislocations, stress). The Workshop will address oxidation, with emphasis on oxide penetration at grain boundaries, where IGSCC occurs. Experimental and modeling approaches will be discussed, in order to progress in the understanding and prediction of IGSCC. This Workshop is the first meeting organized in the frame of the French “Groupement d’Intérêt Scientifique” (GIS) devoted to Stress Corrosion Cracking.

MAI, Moret-sur-loing (France)
May 12th to 14th, 2014

12-14-may-edf-leaflet-first-anouncement-1Scope and Objective
The recent development in numerical simulation has enabled researchers and engineers to handle more and more complex models in materials science. Such models often depend on a large number of parameters whose values may be determined either from expert judgment or from experimental measurements. Whatever the approach, the parameters may be affected by uncertainty as the experts may provide acceptable bounds rather than a precise value and the experimental data may be limited in number and subjected to a measurement error. In addition, extra uncertainty may arise from an intrinsically random model: this is especially the case for materials representations at the microscopic scale which exhibit a significant spatial variability.

Suzhou (China)
April 22th to 25th, 2014

22-25-avril-edf-degradation-course-hdScope and Objective
This is the fourth offering of a successful course that has been given by the MAI since 2010. It is designed for the working engineer in the nuclear industry and addresses both PWR and BWR issues.

The objective of this course is to start from the fundamentals and provide an integrated and up-to-date picture of LWR operations and materials used in the current  fleet. Particular emphasis will be placed on corrosion-related degradation of components.