PhD in Damage and healing monitoring of ultra-high performance concrete

The Faculty of Engineering, Department Mechanica van materialen en constructies, is looking for a PhD-student with a doctoral grant. 

More concretely your work package, for the preparation of a doctorate, contains: 

This is a joint Doctoral (PhD) full time position in damage and healing monitoring of ultra-high performance concrete between Vrije Universiteit Brussels and Ghent University, Belgium.

The project is funded by FWO (Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek-Vlaanderen, Research Foundation-Flanders). You will preferably start in September/October 2025.

The project aims to push the boundaries of monitoring ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) elements, specifically focusing on service loading, degradation, and self-healing. Despite its exceptional properties, UHPC faces challenges such as shrinkage cracking and degradation in aggressive environments, and its self-healing potential remains unexplored. The proposal seeks to explore the capabilities of air-coupled ultrasound for in-depth interpretation of UHPC behavior. By monitoring damage processes at an early stage, material optimization can be achieved, and prompt maintenance actions can be taken to prevent compromised performance, ensuring safety and reducing future maintenance costs. Additionally, evaluating the mechanical and durability restoration after repair or healing is crucial for continuous safe operation and extending the useful life of structures, contributing to sustainability. The use of advanced dispersive features of elastic waves allows for sensitivity to different length scales and physical properties, enabling the early detection and characterization of damage types induced by loading or durability loss. This approach also facilitates comprehensive mapping of the interior of UHPC elements using frequencies that provide the most accurate characterization, in a non-contact manner that has not previously been achieved in cementitious media, particularly in UHPC.

For this function, our Brussels Humanities, Sciences & Engineering Campus (Elsene) will serve as your home base.