VICKSBURG, Miss.—ERDC Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory (GSL) researchers Drs. Robert Moser, Paul Allison, and Mei Chandler recently published the paper "Characterization of Impact Damage in Ultra-High Performance Concrete Using Spatially-Correlated Nanoindentation/SEM/EDX," in the Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance.
The paper details study results that developed new methods to characterize cement-based materials, including ultra-high performance concrete, to quantify the spatial distribution of phases present, such as calcium-silica-hydration, unhydrated cement aggregates, chemical composition and nano-mechanical properties over large representative cross-sections.
These techniques have been used for calibration of discrete element models for cement-based materials. Details can be found at: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11665-013-0668-y.