U.S.-Brazil Cooperative Research: High Performance Computing Applied to the Modeling of Concrete Dams

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This award will support a U.S.-Brazil collaboration between Dr. Franz-Josef Ulm of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Professor Nelson Ebecken of the School of Graduate Studies (COPPE) at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) in Brazil. These researchers will develop a simulation platform for high performance computing for the prediction of the durability performance of concrete dams. The simulation-based prediction, repair, and retrofitting of gravity dams with regard to the deleterious effects of expansive reactions such as the alkali-silica reaction is another focus of the research. Computation modeling will be performed at MIT, while experiments will be conducted in Brazil. This research will make it possible to predict and limit the risk of early-age concrete cracking during dam construction, induced by the exothermal nature of the hydration reaction. The application to gravity dams is expected to have a lasting impact on sound planning for the repair and retrofitting of critical infrastructure.