The U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) today awarded $34.125 million in grants for research through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. A proposal to advance the “Science of Concrete with Fly Ash” through a collaboration of Northwestern University, UC Berkeley, MIT, and Princeton University was awarded $1.5 million for 3 years. This proposal was one of 27 that were funded, out of 1300 submissions.
News release about the NIST grants:
http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/measurementgrants2010.html
News release about our grant:
http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/2010_northwestern.html
The ultimate goal of the project is to develop a new generation of predictive models that can be used for life cycle analysis, optimization of material performance (including cost, energy content, and CO2 footprint), and engineering design of concrete. To this end, equilibrium phase diagrams, reaction kinetics, microstructural models, and micro-, poro-, and chemo-mechanics will be extended to new systems, with particular emphasis on the optimal use of fly ash in concrete.
