People

	Stéphanie Staquet Associate Professor		stephanie.staquet@ulb.ac.be  +32 2 650 27 58
	I received my PhD. from the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium in 2004. In 2005, I made a one-year post-doctoral research stay in Paris at the Ifsttar Laboratory. In 2007, I was promoted to an Assistant Professor and in 2014, to an Associate Professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in the BATir Department. My present research interests span a wide range of concrete material topics such as early age shrinkage and creep, setting and mechanical properties as well as the development of experimental advanced techniques for the monitoring of the evolution of the early age properties in concrete materials. In 2017, I was Chair of the international EAC2 conference, organized in Brussels. Between 2014 and 2018, I was Vice-Chair of the COST Action TU1404. Since 2018, I am coordinating the research project INTERACT.
	Arnaud Deraemaeker Associate Professor		arnaud.deraemaeker@ulb.ac.be  +32 2 650 27 25
	Arnaud Deraemaeker’s main field of research is structural dynamics with applications to SHM, damage detection, and active/passive vibration damping and control. His expertise relevant in this research project is the development of embedded piezoelectric transducers for ultrasonic testing of concrete.
	Jérôme Carette Post-doc Researcher		jerome.carette@ulb.ac.be  +32 2 650 27 57
	As a PhD student, I worked on the early age characterisation of ternary cement blends containing blast furnace slag and limestone filler by non-destructive methods. Particularily interested in the ultrasonics method, I have developped a combined expertise in early age behaviour of concrete and ultrasonic measurements. After a stay in Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan (France) working on the modelling of the drying behaviour of concrete, I am now interested in combining experimental and numerical approaches to characterise the behaviour of concrete with alternative binders. The possibilites offered by the ultrasonic method in this field are among by main interests.
	Markus Königsberger Post-doc Researcher		mkonigsb@ulb.ac.be  +32 2 650 27 57
	During my PhD research at Vienna University of Technology, I focused on the development of a multiscale micromechanics model for hydrating cementitious materials. After my defence in October 2016, I joined Université libre de Bruxelles for a PostDoc position, where I obtained an FNRS grant for studying characteristics of recycled concrete by means of micromechanics and stateßofßthe art experiments. My modeling work rests on the following concept: rather than trying to incorporate all physical processes potentially occurring in the material, it is of central importance to consider especially those mechanisms which do have a significant effect on the studied phenomenon, according to the principle “as simple as possible, as complex as necessary”.
	Brice Delsaute Post-doc Researcher		brice.delsaute@ulb.ac.be  +32 2 650 27 57
	My PhD research was performed at the Laboratory of Civil Engineering LGC, BATir Department, Université Libre de Bruxelles ULB, Brussels, Belgium since October 2010 and at the Université Paris-Est, France under the co-supervision of Stéphanie Staquet (BATir, ULB) and Jean-Michel Torrenti (Ifsttar, Marne-la-Vallée, France). My PhD research focused on the development of new experimental devices and the modelling of early age behaviour of cement-based-materials. After my PhD defence in decembre 2016, I continue my research at ULB. My research work is now related to the study of early age characteristics of recycled concrete and alkali-activated materials.
	Luise Göbel Post-doc Researcher
	To understand the mechanisms underlying novel construction materials from a microscopic point of view was the motivation of my PhD research. In particular, I worked on the characterization of elastic and creep properties of polymer-modified cement-based materials, both experimentally and analytically. Micromechanical multiscale models capable of explaining the influences of different polymer additions on the mechanical behavior of cement-based materials were derived. The research was performed between 2014 and 2018 at the Bauhaus-Universität in Weimar (Germany) under the supervision of Professor Andrea Osburg and it was co-supervised by Professor Bernhard Pichler (Vienna University of Technology, Austria). For my future research work, it will be of interest if the lessons learned so far are applicable to concrete made with alternative binders. The main focus will be on the micromechanical homogenization of significant mechanical properties.
	Marco Sirotti PhD Student		marco.sirotti@ulb.ac.be  +32 2 650 27 71
	My focus is about alkali-activated materials and their volume stability in different drying conditions. The idea is to study an alternative to cement-based binders, more environmentally sustainable and with comparable drying characteristics. Before starting my PhD, I graduated in Engineering for Environmental Sustainability at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy.
	Naqi Ali PhD Student		Ali.Naqi@ulb.ac.be  +32 2 650 27 71
	During my Masters at Chung-Ang University Seoul, South Korea, I worked on the contribution of multi-walled carbon nanotubes on strength enhancement of cementitious materials. The motivation behind this work was to reduce the autogenous shrinkage which is prominent at early ages in high strength concrete. In 2018, I joined Incheon National University, where my research focused on production of one-part alkali-activated slag with utilizing calcined oyster shell activator from the viewpoint of the development of one-part alkali-activated materials using more environmentally friendly and economical alkali-activators. Now in 2019, I joined Laboratory of Civil Engineering LGC, BATir Department, Université Libre de Bruxelles ULB, Brussels, Belgium and my research work is supervised by Prof. Stéphanie Staquet (BATir, ULB). The main focus of my current research work will be on the mechanical properties of alkali-activated materials, in particular on early setting process, compressive and tensile strength, elastic modulus and creep behavior from the earliest age.
	Maïté Lacante PhD Student		maite.lacante@ulb.be  +32 2 650 27 71
	I did my Master’s thesis at BATir, ULB, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Stéphanie Staquet. The focus was on the autogenous and thermal deformations of alkali-activated slag. After graduating in June 2021, I had the opportunity to continue my research as a PhD student in this project. My focus is the study of volume changes of alkali-activated materials at early-age. This regroups, among others, autogenous deformation, thermal deformation (coefficient of thermal expansion), chemical shrinkage and heat release. I am also investigating the mitigation effect of limestone filler and metakaolin.

Institution

The BATir (Building, Architecture and Town planning) department is part of Brussels School of Engineering (École polytechnique de Bruxelles) at the ULB (Université libre de Bruxelles). BATir is a multidisciplinary department in charge of research and teaching related to the art of building: construction, architectural engineering, urbanism and spatial and regional planning. It consists of five several research groups, from which two are participating in the project. The laboratory of civil engineering (LGC) is part of the BATir department. Two of its research groups are represented in this project.

Concrete research group

During the last decade, the LGC concrete research group has focused part of its research activities on the early age behaviour of cement-based systems and to the development of smart cement-based composites for enhanced durability. The former field of research integrates the development of original and unique means of characterization of concrete properties, as well as the adaptation of modelling strategies to this specific early age behaviour. Since 2000, the laboratory has been able to get equipped with a range of facilities at the forefront of research in the field of early age behavior of concrete. The LGC is at the cutting edge regarding monitoring of physical and mechanical properties of concrete, mortar and paste since very early age. Its test setups include:

• A TSTM type testing machine for performing restrained shrinkage and creep tests
• Two BTJADE devices for measuring autogenous deformation of mortar/concrete
• A temperature-controlled autoshrink testing system for monitoring volume changes
• Two ultrasonic pulse transmission (P+S waves) measurements devices
• Two 100kN vertical dual ball joint testing machines for tensile creep testing
• Five pairs of INVAR strain gauges (longitudinal and transverse extensometer)
• An isothermal, two semi-adiabatic and an adiabatic calorimeter
• An acoustic emission measurement system

Dynamics research group

The Dynamics research group of Arnaud Deraemaeker is specialized in vibration based and ultrasonic based monitoring systems for civil engineering infrastructure. Recently, the team has developed a novel approach for ultrasonic monitoring of concrete based on embedded low-cost piezoelectric transducers. The technique has many advantages with respect to traditional ultrasonic testing using external probes, among which the possibility to measure inside the concrete, the excellent coupling with the host material, and the possibility of automation of the monitoring process over a long period of time.

The method has been successfully used for the monitoring of the Young’s modulus of concrete at very early age, and crack monitoring during bending, compression and pull-out tests. These techniques are based on a pitch-catch method where an emitter generates an ultrasonic wave and the receiver records the wave after it has travelled through the concrete. The previous applications of the technique were based on post-processing of the first period of the wave, also called the ballistic wave. In the framework of this project, the technique will be used to assess early age mechanical properties and to detect the onset of cracking.