Multiscale Model for Pore Structure and Mechanical Response of Marine Lightweight Foamed Fill and Its Applications

PhD student (SA-Res)

Kun Zhou

Supervisors

Prof Tugen Feng (Hohai University)	Prof Yinghui Tian

Project Start Date: September, 2022

Project Details

With the rapid development of coastal and offshore infrastructure, the safety and long-term serviceability of soft marine foundations have become increasingly important worldwide. Many key geotechnical problems in these settings, such as post-construction settlement, accumulated deformation under cyclic loading, and foundation bearing capacity, are fundamentally governed by the self-weight of the backfill, which makes lightweight foamed cementitious fill an effective means of load reduction. However, the pore structure of such materials is at present formed passively, and commonly exhibits pronounced heterogeneity in pore size, shape, and spatial distribution, all of which induce local stress concentration and progressive failure that significantly affect engineering performance. My current research focuses on the experimental study and numerical analysis of lightweight foamed cementitious materials considering the coupled effects of these pore characteristics. In particular, I use air–CO₂ mixed gas sources to actively regulate pore structure, and combine pore structure characterisation with finite element analysis to establish the relationship between gas composition and macroscopic mechanical response. I am particularly interested in clarifying how pore structure and its evolution influence the strength, stiffness, and toughness of the fill, and thereby the settlement and cyclic deformation of the underlying marine foundation. The main research methods that interest me include experimental characterisation of porous cementitious materials, digital pore structure reconstruction, computational mechanics, and practical applications in coastal and offshore geotechnical engineering.