When the Ph.D. makes unreversible changes in you mind

January 2011 - Beginning of my Ph.D.
"The concrete is an homogeneous material"
(at that time I was defining my-self as a structural engineer)

Augustus 2014 - Almost the end of my Ph.D
"The concrete material presents an high heterogeneity"
(now I don't have any clue of how I am, but just of what I know)

Same person, different mind.

IF MULTISCALE --> THEN MULTIDISCIPLINARY?

It's almost two years that I decide how to model the phenomenon of ASR in concrete structures. My choice is a multiscale material model based on poromechanics theory developed by Coussy, Dormieux, Ulm and further applied by Lemarchand and Charpin.

I like a lot this approach because you can bridge scales, the equations can be solved analytically and it proved to describe properly the mechanical behavior of concrete.

But today while reading the book titled "Mechanics and Physics of Porous Solid", I was asking to myself if it is indeed necessary to have a multidisciplinary approach to model this problem.

Can ASR in concrete be explained considering only mechanics? or do we need physics and chemistry too?

I don't have any answer at the moment, if you find one just let me know :)

Apparently, by crossing multiple scales you need to learn multiple disciplines!

Modeling ASR in concrete structures, it looks like finishing a puzzle. (picture from biotuesdays.com)

PhD Life: Formulating ASR Expansion

I came across this fun application on the web. And put our research topic to test..

So it was not that complicated after all...

PhDLife: The Thesis Repulsor Field

Looking through the glass

Henry Baker, Chapter 15,"Cautions in viewing Objects" of The Microscope Made Easy, 1742 :

" Beware of determining and declaring your opinion suddenly on any object; for imagination often gets the start of judgment, and makes people believe they see things, which better observations will convince them could not possibly be seen; therefore assert nothing till after repeated experiments and examinations in all lights and in all positions.
When you employ the microscope, shake off all prejudice, nor harbor any favorite opinions; for, if you do, ‘tis not unlikely fancy will betray you into error, and make you see what you wish to see.
Remember that truth alone is the matter that you are in search after; and if you have been mistaken, let not vanity seduce you to persist in your mistake.
Pass no judgment upon things over-extended by force, or contracted by dryness, or in any manner out of their natural state, without making suitable allowances.
There is no advantage in examining any object with a greater magnifier than what shows the same distinctly..."

Thesis Outline of A phd

PhD tools: Google Scholar

As PhD candidates internet access to Journals is vital for broadening our knowledge on the topic. Personally, my first choice has always been GoogleScholar tool. Depending on your network settings search results proves to be the best and fastest -including direct links to full documents-.

One of many useful options is "Cite" option on search results page.

You can easily export citations for most common software. Whether you use Endnotes, Jabref, Papers or any other citation program, this website provides immense help for a researcher. For more export options click here.

Let's add some humor to it.

Happiest moment for the last 10 days

Since last week Monday, I have been busy with Triangulation of meshes in Lattice model. Thanks to help from Branko & Mladena, I have come long way. Trick is, you need to calibrate your mesh element radius to have a representable mesh (I know it sounds geek and boring- that's life of PhD). That requires running an Uni axial tensile test on your mesh and check whether calculated E modulus is same as your initial assumption. As all programming goes, have been struggling to pass 1st simulation step (so the solver writes the output file). Finally, after miserable frustrating days, program passed the first step and gave results. 

Now I need to calibrate 10 more meshes with various randomness.

A day in life of a PhD

True scientific approach

Sums it up.

"Though this be madness, yet there is method in it"
spoken by Polonius in act 2, scene 2 of Hamlet

Time-lapse writing of research paper

A PhD's Data flow

 

Looks like a lot more to accomplish... That's phd-life..

Experimental Works

Castings for mechanical testing is almost finished. It has been (and still will be) two busy casting week. Another News is Our 60°C Reactor from Schleibinger has leakage problems.

Unfortunately this results in more delay on our 4th workpackage. The initial plan was to cast in May, 2012. But due to problems we postponed this date. With these unfortunate news we are facing another delay of couple of months. Unlucky for a PhD work...

fingers Crossed...

PhD Life

Back in the village - After ICCRRR

Pat-asr and M3C4 teams representing Microlab in Cape town.

Third International Conference on Concrete Repair, Rehabilitation and Retrofitting was held in Cape Town, South Africa. Our team has the opportunity to get in touch with experts in our field and present our work.It has been a successful organization. We also had the pleasure of visiting beautiful Cape Town. It's time to pick up where we left.

PAT-ASR team in ICCRRR, Cape Town

It is almost time for yet another big conference on concrete research. We are participating in 3rd International Conference on Concrete Repair Rehabilitation and Retrofitting in Cape Town, South Africa. We are presenting two papers in this conference. It will exciting to meet and interact with colleagues around the world.

It's a long flight with an exciting ending. Looking forward to it.

Life of a PhD

Not exactly applies to our working environment and our team, yet a funny interpretation of stereotyped PhD researcher life.