The Prediction of Self-Healing Capacity of Bacteria-Based Concrete Using Machine Learning Approaches

Advances in machine learning(ML)methods are important in industrial engineering and attract great attention in recent years.However,a comprehensive comparative study of the most advanced ML algorithms is lacking.Six integrated ML approaches for the crack repairing capacity of the bacteria-based self-healing concrete are proposed and compared.Six ML algorithms,including the Support Vector Regression(SVR),Decision Tree Regression(DTR),Gradient Boosting Regression(GBR),Artificial Neural Network(ANN),Bayesian Ridge Regression(BRR)and Kernel Ridge Regression(KRR),are adopted for the relationship modeling to predict crack closure percentage(CCP).Particle Swarm Optimization(PSO)is used for the hyper-parameters tuning.The importance of parameters is analyzed.It is demonstrated that integrated ML approaches have great potential to predict the CCP,and PSO is efficient in the hyperparameter tuning.This research provides useful information for the design of the bacteria-based self-healing concrete and can contribute to the design in the rest of industrial engineering.

Distribution of Calcium Carbonate in the Process of Concrete Self-healing

The complete deposition distribution process of calcium carbonate is summarized in three directions of cracks. Distribution of calcium carbonate in the self-healing process of microbial concrete is studied in detail, with the help of a variety of analytical techniques. The results show that carbonate deposits along the x-axis direction of the cracks. The farther from the crack surfaces of concrete matrix in x-axis direction, the more the content of the substrate, the less content of calcium carbonate. Gradual accumulation of calcium carbonate along the y-axis direction is like building a house with bricks. Different repair points are gradually connected, and ultimately the whole of cracks are completely filled. In the z-axis direction, calcium deposits on the surface of fracture direction, when the crack is filled on the surface, because the internal crack hypoxia in the depths of cracks hardly produces calcium carbonate.

Self-healing of Cracks in Concrete with Various Crystalline Mineral Additives in Underground Environment

Cracks can deteriorate mechanical properties and/or durability of concrete. A few studies have shown that, cracks can autogenously heal under a certain conditions besides the traditional passive repair with a deliberate external intervention. For underground concrete structures, the presence of water, as a necessity for chemical reactions of the healing additives, is beneficial to healing concrete. In this paper, a natural healing method by mineral additives was developed according to the chemical and physical characteristics of underground environment. The healing capacity of three different crystalline mineral materials classified namely, carbonate, calcium sulphoaluminate expansive agent and natural metakaolin due to permeation- crystallization, expansion and pozzolanic reaction, has been assessed from the mechanical properties, referring to the relative elastic modulus, the strength restoration, and the water permeability of the healed specimens. In addition, the morphology of the healing products in the vicinity of the crack was observed. The results indicate that the specimens incorporated with the three mineral additives show different healing capacity according to the improved mechanical properties and permeability. The permeability of the host matrix decreased a lot after crack healing by natural metakaolin followed by carbonate whereas no noticeable improvement of water permeability has been observed for the specimens mixed with expansive agent. The specimens incorporated with carbonate show the best mechanical restoration in terms of relative elastic modulus and compressive strength. Although the dominate element is CaCO3 by reaction of CO32-, either from the dissolved CO2 or from the additives, and Ca2＋ in the cementitious system to fill the cracks, the healing capacity depends greatly on the morphology and the properties of the newly formed products.

Application of thermodynamics-based rate-dependent constitutive models of concrete in the seismic analysis of concrete dams

This paper discusses the seismic analysis of concrete dams with consideration of material nonlinearity. Based on a consistent rate-dependent model and two thermodynamics-based models, two thermodynamics-based rate-dependent constitutive models were developed with consideration of the influence of the strain rate. They can describe the dynamic behavior of concrete and be applied to nonlinear seismic analysis of concrete dams taking into account the rate sensitivity of concrete. With the two models, a nonlinear analysis of the seismic response of the Koyna Gravity Dam and the Dagangshan Arch Dam was conducted. The results were compared with those of a linear elastic model and two rate-independent thermodynamics-based constitutive models, and the influences of constitutive models and strain rate on the seismic response of concrete dams were discussed. It can be concluded from the analysis that, during seismic response, the tensile stress is the control stress in the design and seismic safety evaluation of concrete dams. In different models, the plastic strain and plastic strain rate of concrete dams show a similar distribution. When the influence of the strain rate is considered, the maximum plastic strain and plastic strain rate decrease.

DISSIPATION-BASED CONSISTENT RATE-DEPENDENT MODEL FOR CONCRETE

An energy-dissipation based viscoplastic consistency model is presented to describe the performance of concrete under dynamic loading. The development of plasticity is started with the thermodynamic hypotheses in order that the model may have a sound theoretical background. Independent hardening and softening and the rate dependence of concrete are described separately for tension and compression. A modified implicit backward Euler integration scheme is adopted for the numerical computation. Static and dynamic behavior of the material is illustrated with certain numerical examples at material point level and structural level, and compared with existing experimental data. Results validate the effectiveness of the model.

Preparation of New Cementitious System using Fly Ash and Dehydrated Autoclaved Aerated Concrete

We experimentally studied the interaction between pozzolanic material（fly ash） and dehydrated autoclaved aerated concrete（DAAC）. The DAAC powder was obtained by grinding aerated concrete waste to particles fi ner than 75μm and was then heated to temperatures up to 900 ℃. New cementitious material was prepared by proportioning fly ash and DAAC, named as AF. X-ray diffraction（XRD） was employed to identify the crystalline phases of DAAC before and after rehydration. The hydration process of AF was analyzed by the heat of hydration and non-evaporable water content（Wn）. The experimental results show that the highest reactivity of DAAC can be obtained by calcining the powder at 700 ℃ and the dehydrated products are mainly β-C2 S and CaO. The cumulative heat of hydration and Wn was found to be strongly dependent on the replacement level of fl y ash, increasing the replacement level of fl y ash lowered them in AF. The strength contribution rates on pozzolanic effect of fl y ash in AF are always negative, showing a contrary tendency of that of cement-fl y ash system.

Effects of Temperature and Strain Rate on Dynamic Properties of Concrete

To study the dynamic properties of the concrete subjected to impulsive loading, stress-time curves of concrete in different velocities were measured using split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB).Effects of temperature and strain rate on the dynamic yield strength and constitutive relation of the con-crete were analyzed. The dynamic mechanical properties of the reinforced concrete are subjected to high strain rates when it is at a relatively low temperature. But with temperature increasing, the temperature softening effect makes the strength of the concrete weaken and the impact toughness of the concrete is saliently relative to strain rate effect. So, strain rate effect, strain hardening and temperature softening work together on the dynamic mechanical capability of concrete and the relation between them is relatively complex.

Influence of Maximum Aggregate Size on Dynamic Size Effect of Concrete Under Low Strain Rates:Meso-scale Simulations

This study is to explore the influence of maximum aggregate size(MAS)on the failure and corresponding size effect of concrete materials under low strain rates.The failure process of concrete was simulated by the mesoscale numerical method considering the internal heterogeneity of concrete and strain rate effect.Based on the mesoscale method,the failure behavior of concrete specimens with different structural sizes and MAS was investigated.Also,the influence of MAS on the failure modes,nominal strength and corresponding size effect of concrete were studied at the meso-scale.The simulation results indicated that MAS has an obvious influence on the failure modes of concrete subjected to axial compressive and tensile loads.The nominal tensile strength increased as the MAS increased,while the nominal compressive strength increased first and then decreased as the MAS increases under quasi-static load.In addition,it was found that the size effect on nominal strength of concrete would be weakened with the increase of strain rate.When the applied strain rate reached 1 s^-1,the size effect on nominal strength of concrete disappeard.Moreover,the MAS has an ignorable influence on the dynamic size effect of concrete under uniaxial compression and tension.

Analytical Solutions to Strain Rates of Reinforced Concrete Simply Supported Slabs under Blast Loads

Based on the Duhamel integral, a couple of analytical solutions are derived to predict the strain rates of concrete and steel reinforcement in reinforced concrete slabs under blast loads and to estimate their variation over depth of a cross-section along the entire length of the member. The analytical approach utilizes the single-degree-of-freedom mode for the analysis of reinforced concrete simply supported one-way panels subjected to blast loads. These analytical solutions can give the strain rate profile for any cross-section at any time and permit variations of strain rate in each time step of numerical iteration method, thus making it possible to directly incorporate strain rate effects into non-linear dynamic response analysis of structural members subjected to blast loads.

Complete splitting process of steel fiber reinforced concrete at intermediate strain rate

The complete splitting process of steel fiber reinforced concrete （SFRC） at intermediate strain rate was studied by experiment. The basic information of a self-developed SFRC dynamic test system matching with lnstron 1342 materials testing machine was given, and the experiment principle and the loading mode of cubic split specimen were introduced. During the experiment, 30 cubes of 150 mm×150 mm×150 mm and 36 cubes of 100 mm×100 mm×100 mm, designed and prepared according to C20 class SFRC with different volume fractions of steel fiber （0, 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%） were tested and analyzed. At the same time, the size effect of SFRC at intermediate strain rate was investigated. The experimental study indicates that SFRC size effect is not influenced by the loading speed or strain rate. When the steel fiber content increases from 0 to 4%, the splitting strength of SFRC increases from 100% to 261%, i.e. increasing by 161% compared with that of the common concrete. The loading rate increases from 1.33 kN/s to 80.00 kN/s, and the splitting tensile strength increases by 43.55%.

Experimental Study on Mechanical Properties of Self-Compacting Recycled Concrete

The application of self-compacting recycled concrete can solve the problem of environmental pollution caused by construction waste but its mechanical properties have not been unified and need further study.The strength of recycled concrete is unstable,and its performance still needs further study.The combination of fixed sand and stone volume method and free water cement ratio method is used to determine the mix ratio of self-compacting recycled concrete.24 sets of slump expansion tests and 24 sets of cube axial compression tests were carried out to study the effect of recycled aggregate replacement rate on the flow performance and axial compressive strength of self-compacting recycled concrete,and the performance conversion formula of self-compacting recycled concrete was given.The results show that with the increase of the regenerated coarse aggregate substitution rate,the fluidity and filling property of the self-compacting regenerated concrete mix decreased.The failure of self-compacting recycled concrete is mainly due to the failure of strength between old mortar and new mixture.As the substitution rate increases from 0 to 100%,the axial compressive strength decreases by 15.2%.

EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL STUDIES ON DYNAMIC COMPRESSIVE BEHAVIOR OF REACTIVE POWDER CONCRETES

Split Hopkinson pressure bar （SHPB） technique is used to determine the dynamic strength of reactive powder concretes （RPCs） with different steel-fiber contents. Two types of pulse shapers with different thicknesses are considered to reduce the high-frequency-oscillation effect and achieve a nearly constant strain rate over a certain deformation range. It is known that the compressive strength of concrete-like materials is hydrostatic-stress-dependent, and the apparent dynamic strength enhancement comes from both the effects of the hydrostatic stress and strain rate. In order to differentiate them, numerical method is used to calculate the contribution of the hydrostatic stress, and then the genuine strain-rate effect on dynamic compressive strength of RPCs is determined. In addition, the effect of steel-fibers on dynamic strength and failure mode of RPCs is discussed.

3-D consistency dynamic constitutive model of concrete

Based on the consistency-viscoplastic constitutive model,the static William-Warnke model with three-parameters is modified and a consistency-viscoplastic William-Warnke model with three-parameters is developed that considers the effect of strain rates. Then,the tangent modulus of the consistency viscoplastic model is introduced and an implicit backward Elure iterative algorithm is developed. Comparisons between the numerical simulations and experimental data show that the consistency model properly provides the uniaxial and biaxial dynamic behaviors of concrete. To study the effect of strain rates on the dynamic response of concrete structures,the proposed model is used in the analysis of the dynamic response of a simply-supported beam and the results show that the strain rate has a significant effect on the displacement and stress magnitudes and distributions. Finally,the seismic responses of a 278 m high arch dam are obtained and compared by using the linear elastic model,as well as rate-independent and rate-dependent William-Warnke three-parameter models. The results indicate that the strain rate affects the first principal stresses,and the maximal equivalent viscoplastic strain rate of the arch dam. Numerical calculations and analyses reveal that considering the strain rate is important in the safety assessments of arch dams located in seismically active areas.

Accelerating Effect of Wetting-Drying Cycles on Steel Bar Corrosion in Concrete

Raining and sun-shining processes in natural climate were simulated by water spraying and infrared lightshining alternately as wetting-drying cycles in accelerated durability test. The accelerating effects of the wet-ting-drying cycles and the variation of corrosion current density and corrosion potential of steel bar in concrete undersuch conditions were studied. The result shows that the main reason leading to accelerating corrosion of steel bar inconcrete is the wetting-drying cycles, which can cause the increase of corrosion potential difference between the an-ode and cathode of steel bar corrosion cell and the decrease of concrete resistance. Corrosion rate of the steel bar inconcrete under four typical conditions, including wetting-drying cycle, long time submerging in water, long time ex-posure to indoor and outdoor environment were measured and compared. The test results indicate that the corrosionrates under the four typical conditions are in the order of spraying and infrared light shining cycles, outdoor environ-ment, indoor environment, and submerging in water, respectively.

Determination of the Apparent Activation Energy of Concrete Carbonation

Accelerated carbonation experiments about the development of carbonation rates of ordinary Portland cement concrete under different artificial climates were carried out. Six water cement ratios and six climate condition combinations of temperature and relative humidity were used. Results indicate that changes of concrete carbonation rate with environmental temperature agree the Arrhenius law well, which suggests concrete carbonation rate has obvious dependence on temperature. The higher the temperature is, the more quickly the concrete carbonates, and at the same time it is also affected by environmental relative humidity. Thereafter, the apparent activation energy Ea of concrete carbonation reaction was obtained, ranging from 16.8 to 20.6 kJ/mol corresponding 0.35-0.74 water cement ratio, and lower water cement ratio will cause the apparent activation energy increase. Concrete carbonation rates will increase 1.1-1.69 times as temperature increase every 10 ℃ at the temperature range of 10 to 60 ℃.

Autogenous Shrinkage of High Strength Lightweight Aggregate Concrete

The characteristic of autogenous shrinkage（AS） and its effect on high strength lightweight aggregate concrete（HSLAC） were studied.The experimental results show that the main shrinkage of high strength concrete is AS and the amount of cement can affect the AS of HSLAC remarkably,At the early stage the AS of HSLAC is lower than that of high strength normal concrete,but it has a large growth at the later stage.The AS of high strength normal concrete becomes stable at 90d age,but HSLAC still has a high AS growth .It is found that adjusting the volume rate of lightweight aggregate,mixing with a proper dosage of fly ash and raising the water saturation degree of lightweight aggregate can markedly reduce the AS rate of HSLAC.

Influence of key factors on deflection of bonded prestressed concrete simply supported slabs subjected to fire

In order to validate the accuracy of nonlinear fire simulation programs,comparison analysis is carried out between simulation and experiment induced from small-scale specimens,and then fire resistance of large-scale prestressed concrete slabs is further investigated through parameter expansion.The influences on fire resistance ratings controlled by deflection are explored and discussed,including effective span,concrete cover thickness,load level,prestress degree,effective prestress,composite reinforcement index and other factors.The calculated results indicate that fire resistance ratings of large-scale bonded prestressed concrete simply supported slabs are bigger than those of small-scale ones.Finally,the calculation formulas of fire resistance ratings controlled by deflection are established,which rationally consider the influence of effective span,concrete cover thickness,load level,composite reinforcement index and so on key factors.

Corrosion risk assessment of chloride-contaminated concrete structures using embeddable multi-cell sensor system

Monitoring the service condition of concrete structures requires the quantitative assessment of properties and corrosion rate of structural steels surrounded by concrete.A multi-cell sensor system that included a reference electrode,a chloride content sensor,a macrocell current unit and an electrical resistance measurement unit was developed.This system provided the following important electrochemical data in the cover-zone concrete on site:open circuit potential,macrocell current from anodes to cathode,chloride profile,concrete resistance and corrosion rate of built-in anodes.The experimental results show that the macrocell current increases when the chloride content in concrete is higher.Thus,monitoring the chloride content is a good method for monitoring the corrosion state.The chloride ion content and cover depth are the key factors that affect the electrical resistance of concrete.Without considering the temperature and time,a simplified model of the instantaneous corrosion rate of steel rebar in a concrete structure based on the measured chloride contents and concrete resistance was proposed.The test results further prove the reliability of this simplified predicting model.

An Elastoplastic Damage Constitutive Model for Concrete

An elastoplastic damage constitutive model to simulate nonlinear behavior of concrete is presented. Similar to traditional plastic theory, the irreversible deformation is modeled in effective stress space. In order to better describe different stiffness degradation mechanisms of concrete under tensile and compressive loading conditions, two damage variables, i.e., tension and compression are introduced, to quantitatively evaluate the degree of deterioration of concrete structure. The rate dependent behavior is taken into account, and this model is derived firmly in the framework of irreversible thermodynamics. Fully implicit backward-Euler algorithm is suggested to perform constitutive integration. Numerical results of the model accord well with the test results for specimens under uniaxial tension and compression, biaxial loading and triaxial loading. Failure processes of double-edge-notched （DEN） specimen are also simulated to further validate the proposed model.

Multifunctional, Sustainable, and Biological Non-Ureolytic Self-Healing Systems for Cement-Based Materials

Microbially induced calcium carbonate(CaCO_(3))precipitation(MICP)has been investigated as a sustain-able alternative to conventional concrete remediation methods for improving the mechanical properties and durability of concrete structures.To date,urea-dependent MICP is the most widely employed MICP pathway in biological self-healing concrete research as its use has resulted in efficient CaCO_(3) precipita-tion rates.NH_(3) is a byproduct of ureolysis,and can be hazardous to cementitious structures and the health of various species.Accordingly,non-ureolytic bacterial concrete self-healing systems have been developed as eco-friendly alternatives to urea-dependent self-healing systems.Non-ureolytic pathways can improve the physical properties of concrete samples and incorporate the use of waste materials;they have the potential to be cost-effective and sustainable.Moreover,they can be applied in terrestrial and marine environments.To date,research on non-ureolytic concrete self-healing systems has been scarce compared to that on ureolytic systems.This article discusses the advances and challenges in non-ureolytic bacterial concrete self-healing studies and highlights the directions for future research.