The Fourth RILEM Symposium on Concrete Modelling (CONMOD 2014)

ONMOD 2014 will be the fourth in a series of RILEM symposia after Quebec City, Canada (2006) and Delft, The Netherlands (2008) and Lausanne, Switzerland (2010). The Symposium is specifically devoted to the development and applications of numerical models to simulate and predict the microstructure, material properties (mechanical and transport properties) and long-term performance of concrete. CONMOD conferences are supposed to be a platform for researchers active in modelling of concrete at different length scales and coming from different scientific disciplines (chemistry, physics and mechanics). The goal is to be able to deal with more and more complex couplings. Examples of service-life prediction are presented and compared to field data. This series of conference offer also an exchange platform for the PhD students working on the modeling of concrete materials. Accordingly, the participation of PhD students is very much encouraged.

Nowadays computational tools have transformed the way scientists and engineers work in the field of concrete sciences. Numerical models are more and more used to justify technical choices in terms of design of cementitious materials and concrete structures while keeping in mind requirements of costs, sustainability and service life. Furthermore, sophisticated modellings make it possible to comprehensively investigate the physico-chemico-mechanical couplings which govern the behaviour of cementitious systems, in particular by means of inverse analysis methods.

Using the latest developments in the field of computer sciences (molecular dynamics simulations, lattice Boltzmann methods, etc.), research groups all over the world have developed models to better understand the behaviour of hardening cementitious materials and the links between chemistry, microstructure, and transport properties. With these advances, life-time assessment of concrete structures is now possible thanks to durability models, either in a deterministic way, or in a probabilistic framework. Complex and intricate degradation phenomena can be predicted thanks to reactive multi-physics, multiphases and multi-species modellings. In order to assess the durability of cementitious systems from early age, the complex evolution of mechanical and transport properties in hardening systems belongs as well to the scope of this conference.

Papers are called for on mathematical descriptions of the hydration reactions, transport of fluids and ions in reactive porous media, deterministic and statistical models to predict the behaviour of cement-based materials and service life of concrete structures.