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Dynamical Systems Seminar: Ruth Martin

Kinetics of the alkali-silica reaction in concrete.

Ruth Martin

Applied Mathematics,Ìý

Date and time:Ìý

Thursday, December 5, 2013 - 2:00pm

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ECCR 257

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The alkali-silica reaction (ASR) in concrete can lead to significant expansion and cracking, and is one of the most important factors in the aging of concrete infrastructure. The ASR is characterized by a chain of three chemical reactions, the kinetics of which remain poorly understood. We attempt to develop a mathematical framework through which the reaction kinetics can be analyzed. In particular, six nonlinear coupled ODEs are solved numerically and investigated asymptotically under certain assumptions. From a parametric study, qualitative observations are made and then correlated with known observations.