Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)  

Experimental measurements on samples cored from thick concrete walls of existing building structures whose age was ~50 years at most showed that concrete strength increased after long-term use due to chemical reactions between aggregate and cement hydrates. Chemical compositions of reacted aggregate were analyzed by comparing the oxide composition of cement paste with that of original cement based on inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) measurement. The results provide indicators to determine the dissolving aggregate minerals as well as the reaction degree of aggregate. A model was proposed to simulate the progress of reaction degree over time in coupling with moisture transport and temperature in concrete. The mechanism of strength increase was discussed by analyzing the gel-space ratio estimated from XRD-Riteveld analysis and that estimated from the thermodynamic simulation of the reaction. Finally, the strength prediction model was proposed for the aging management of building structures.

DOI： 10.1016/j.jobe.2025.113606

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Elsevier BV  

DOI： 10.1016/j.cscm.2024.e03571

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Elsevier BV  

DOI： 10.1016/j.cemconres.2024.107683

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Elsevier BV  

DOI： 10.1016/j.cemconres.2024.107698

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Elsevier BV  

DOI： 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2024.138112

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Informa UK Limited  

DOI： 10.1080/19648189.2024.2370848

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Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Japan Cement Association  

<p>In this paper, ¹H-NMR Relaxometry is applied to carbonation phase and analyzes changes of chemically bound water content, mobile water content, and total water content in hardened cement paste with the progress of carbonation. The results showed that calcium hydroxide and C-S-H were carbonated at 20℃ and 85％RH. From the measurement of transverse relaxation time T₂ by CPMG method, it was confirmed that the transverse relaxation time of Interlayer and Gel pore increased with carbonation. There was a positive correlation between carbonation degree of calcium hydroxide calculated by thermogravimetric/differential thermal analysis and decreasing of chemically bound water measured by Solid echo method, confirming that chemically bound water in calcium hydroxide changed to mobile water due to carbonation. Regarding mobile water, the water content of Gel pore increased and that of Interlayer decreased in C-S-H during the initial stage of carbonation.</p>

DOI： 10.14250/cement.77.44

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Authorship：Lead author   Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Structural Concrete  

Biaxially prestressed large concrete structures of the confinement building in nuclear power plants (NPPs) should meet the safety requirement for the extension of the service time. Long-term delayed strains of concrete are one of the key factors determining the safety factor in these structures. This article presents 30-year long in situ measurement results of strain evolution of confinement buildings in four different NPPs. The delayed strains are predicted at a material level using the next-generation Eurocode-2, and the influence of temperature as proposed by the fib model code 2010, making use of delayed strain characteristics of the corresponding concrete from a previous study. We found that the default law given in Eurocode underestimates the delayed strain. However, with the possibility of adjusting the shrinkage and creep laws, the prediction results fit with a good accuracy for the in situ measurement.

DOI： 10.1002/suco.202300665

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Language：Japanese   Publisher：Japan Society for Finishings Technology  

<p>Wood compression enhances the mechanical properties of wood, but to maintain quality, shape fixation is necessary to prevent the recovery of compressive deformation due to water adsorption. One suggested mechanism is hydrophobization, because moisture can soften the amorphous components of wood, leading to shape recovery. This study evaluated the influence of moisture adsorption on compressed wood using indentation tests. The results showed that the higher the relative humidity during moisture absorption, the lower the Young’s modulus and indentation hardness, and the greater the creep deformation. This suggests that softening of amorphous regions within the wood, due to water adsorption, affected its mechanical properties.</p>

DOI： 10.14820/finex.2024.0_233

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Language：Japanese   Publisher：Japan Society for Finishings Technology  

<p>It is essential to investigate the physical properties of wood, such as water resistance and dimensional stability as a building material, by correlating the movement of water during water absorption with dimensional changes in wood. Elucidating the degradation mechanisms of wood-based materials based on these properties will lead to “wood construction and wooden city” in cities. In this study, cedar lumber of different thicknesses was subjected to forced drying and water absorption, and changes over time were observed. X-ray CR images were used to observe internal water movement, and image correlation methods were used to observe strain changes in the surface layer. As a result, the interrelationship between strain and water content was confirmed by these methods. It was also possible to confirm that the thickness of the specimen may have a significant effect on this information and relationship.</p>

DOI： 10.14820/finex.2024.0_237

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Japan Concrete Institute  

<p>Capturing atmospheric CO₂ into cement-based materials is a way to set off the CO₂ emissions of concrete production. This study proposes an experimental method to track the origin of cement paste that fixes CO₂ directly from the air under natural conditions. By exposing powders of well-hydrated cement paste to air, carbonated cement paste powders are obtained with different carbonation degrees. The inorganic carbon of these carbonated samples is extracted by dissolution in phosphoric acid, and the isotopic characteristics related to ¹³C and ¹⁴C are measured. The experimental results show that the ¹⁴C value of carbonated cement paste can be used as an indicator for tracing the origin of carbon.</p>

DOI： 10.3151/jact.21.934

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Springer Science and Business Media LLC  

DOI： 10.1007/s11242-023-01998-2

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Other Link： https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11242-023-01998-2/fulltext.html

Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)  

Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)  

Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)  

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Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Japan Cement Association  

<p>In this study, mass changes and length changes were measured using ordinary Portland cement and low heat Portland cement to investigate drying shrinkage properties in hardened low heat Portland cement. The mass change-length change relationship can be approximated by two straight lines, with the changing point of slope corresponding to about 50％ RH. From the change in the slope of the mass change-length change relationship, it can be inferred that only reversible drying shrinkage occurs in the low humidity range, while irreversible drying shrinkage occurs in addition to the reversible one in the high humidity range. The irreversible drying shrinkage of L is large, which we attribute to the larger amount of C-S-H per unit volume and smaller gel-space ratio which is deduced from the difference in Nitrogen sorption and portlandite amount. The C-S-H formed in L cement has larger interlayer space and at a more uniform state. Hence it is easier to make crosslinking between layers upon drying, resulting in higher irreversible shrinkage.</p>

DOI： 10.14250/cement.76.153

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CiNii Research

Authorship：Lead author,　Corresponding author   Language：English   Publisher：Japan Concrete Institute  

<p>The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of cement paste is an essential parameter for estimating cracks of cement-based structures, including under normal operating conditions. The CTE of low-heat Portland cement pastes dried for a long term at various relative humidities were measured by applying trapezoidal temperature history. The measured CTE was a convex function when displayed versus relative humidity and was highest at the relative humidity of 58%. At the relative humidity of 11%, the CTE was similar to the one of the fully dried sample. Based on a drying shrinkage model in the literature that classifies pore water as free liquid water and adsorbed water, we computed pore pressure change and corresponding strain, from which the CTEs were estimated. The microstructural rearrangements of cement paste due to long-term drying were taken into account by obtaining pore size distributions from water vapor sorption isotherm. The CTEs predicted with the model agree well with the measured ones.</p>

DOI： 10.3151/jact.21.151

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CiNii Research

Authorship：Lead author   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Cement and Concrete Research  

Creep and shrinkage of concrete are essential for the safety assessment of large civil engineering structures. The present paper presents two different approaches to predicting the delayed strain considering a single material point to represent the structure. The first one is a decoupled approach, such as design codes, that splits the delayed strain into four components and predicts each of them as a function of several parameters such as concrete strength. In the second approach, delayed strain is modeled as the viscoelastic response of concrete to applied external loads and/or internal hygric stresses. The advantages and inconveniences of both methods are discussed. In the end, delayed strains of concrete are predicted using these approaches for two examples of real structures: a prestressed concrete bridge and a mock-up of a biaxially prestressed containment building.

DOI： 10.1016/j.cemconres.2022.107086

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DOI： 10.1007/978-3-031-32519-9_23

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Elsevier BV  

DOI： 10.1016/j.cement.2022.100047

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Authorship：Lead author   Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Journal of the American Ceramic Society  

In modern Portland cement, calcium aluminum silicate hydrates (C-A-S-H) do not generally form crystalline Al-tobermorite. In this study, to identify the mechanism of Al-tobermorite formation, synchrotron micro X-ray diffraction and field-emission scanning electron microscopy-based energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) investigations were performed on a slice of a thick concrete wall in a nuclear power plant, where the presence of Al-tobermorite was previously confirmed. Rietveld analysis of the diffraction diagrams obtained from the 2D diffraction patterns showed that Al-tobermorite was formed almost everywhere in the cement paste near sandstone aggregate and that Al-tobermorite platelets were distributed across most of the cement paste area in a random orientation. The basal spacing d-value of Al-tobermorite was identical and equal to 11.39 Å. The ratio plots from the EDS maps indicated that the chemical composition of the mixture of Al-tobermorite and C-A-S-H was almost homogeneous all around the cement paste. The Al-tobermorite in this concrete is probably formed via a dissolution–precipitation process. From the random orientation even next to the surface of aggregate, we infer that the Al-tobermorite formation does not need the surface of aggregate to precipitate.

DOI： 10.1111/jace.18624

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Language：Japanese   Publisher：Cement and Concrete Research  

This study aims to enhance moisture transport modeling by elucidating the so-called anomalous water diffusion in cementitious materials. Water desorption isotherms are measured from samples at various drying stages using techniques with different durations to quantify the impact of the drying duration on the water sorption ability. A single water sorption isotherm does not solely give a relationship between the water content and relative humidity but also represents the state of microstructure. The continuous evolution of a desorption isotherm due to drying-induced microstructural rearrangement is demonstrated. For numerical modeling, the microstructural alteration can be explicitly considered through a dynamic desorption isotherm model, which governs the local thermodynamic equilibrium at the capillary meniscus. This approach is implemented into a multiphase transport code, whose ability to predict drying is validated using literature data. Finally, the effect of prolonged drying on the colloidal nature of the calcium-silicate-hydrate gel is discussed.

DOI： 10.1016/j.cemconres.2021.106612

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Language：Japanese   Publisher：Journal of Advanced Concrete Technology  

For better understanding of irreversible shrinkage, nine hardened cement paste (hcp) samples with three different cement types and three different water to cement ratio were prepared. Four different relative humidity conditioning histories containing the first desorption, re-humidification and the second desorption are investigated for all the specimens to obtain the length change and water sorption isotherms. The irreversible shrinkage strain was developed when the specimen was dried up to less than 80% relative humidity (RH), while other previous experiments in literatures showed that the shrinkage strain between 40% RH and 11% RH is reversible. It is concluded that the irreversible shrinkage strain is developed between 80% RH and 40% RH, which is also supported by the change in water vapor BET surface area of hardened cement paste after long-term drying.

DOI： 10.3151/jact.19.585

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Language：Japanese   Publisher：Materials and Design  

The distribution of compressive strength in thick concrete members exposed to various environments in a nuclear power plant undergoing decommissioning is investigated. X-ray diffraction data, scanning electron microscopy analysis, and chemical analysis data reveal that rock-forming minerals in the aggregate had reacted and portlandite had been consumed to form calcium alumino silicate hydrates (C-A-S-H) when evaporable water content was sufficient. In addition, the study confirms Al-tobermorite formation in modern concrete after 16.5 years of elevated temperature conditions ranging from 40 to 55 °C. It is concluded that an appropriate aggregate and binder combination for the concrete enhances the compressive strength of thick concrete members thanks to the reaction of rock-forming minerals with portlandite, and also strengthens the chemical stability through the formation of Al-tobermorite under elevated temperature conditions and sufficient evaporable water content.

DOI： 10.1016/j.matdes.2020.109297

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Language：Japanese   Publisher：International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials  

Mechanical properties and durability of cement-based materials are largely affected by pore structures. This paper provides an overview of several experimental techniques to characterize pore size distribution and specific surface area, with focus on pores in calcium silicate hydrates. The reviewed experimental techniques are nitrogen and water vapor sorption isotherm, proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) and small-angle scattering (SAS). Different pretreatment methods are compared for sorption measurements. Pore size distribution and specific surface area are analyzed using data from different methods to understand difference and consistency of these methods. It is found that pore size distribution calculated from sorption isotherm is very sensitive to adsorption model. Though specific surface areas from different techniques are quite different from each other, they are all able to detect the microstructural alteration due to long-term drying.

DOI： 10.1186/s40069-020-00431-y

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)  

DOI： 10.3151/jact.18.396

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DOI： 10.1016/j.cemconres.2020.106036

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Elsevier {BV}  

DOI： 10.1016/j.cemconres.2019.105970

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Language：Japanese   Publisher：Proceedings of the fib Symposium 2020: Concrete Structures for Resilient Society  

The prediction of the delayed deformations of prestressed concrete structures like nuclear power plants (NPPs) is important in order to assess and/or extend the service life of such structures. It is also a safety concern because, in these structures, the prestressing is there to avoid tensile stresses and cracking in case of a severe accident (where an internal pressure is generated). In this paper, the relations proposed in MC2010 and in the future Eurocode 2 for the delayed strains (creep and shrinkage of concrete and relaxation of steel) are used to predict the behaviour of a NPP built 25 years ago. As proposed in the future Eurocode 2, the parameters of the relations giving the evolution of shrinkage and creep are fitted to measurements made on laboratory samples when the NPP was built. The influence of the temperature and of the relative humidity inside the containment are also taken into account. Finally, using the superposition principle in a biaxial context, the predicted delayed strains are compared with the measurements.

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Publisher：fib Symposium  

The prediction of the delayed deformations of prestressed concrete structures like nuclear power plants (NPPs) is important in order to assess and/or extend the service life of such structures. It is also a safety concern because, in these structures, the prestressing is there to avoid tensile stresses and cracking in case of a severe accident (where an internal pressure is generated). In this paper, the relations proposed in MC2010 and in the future Eurocode 2 for the delayed strains (creep and shrinkage of concrete and relaxation of steel) are used to predict the behaviour of a NPP built 25 years ago. As proposed in the future Eurocode 2, the parameters of the relations giving the evolution of shrinkage and creep are fitted to measurements made on laboratory samples when the NPP was built. The influence of the temperature and of the relative humidity inside the containment are also taken into account. Finally, using the superposition principle in a biaxial context, the predicted delayed strains are compared with the measurements.

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (international conference proceedings)   Publisher：Proceedings of the fib Symposium 2020: Concrete Structures for Resilient Society  

The prediction of the delayed deformations of prestressed concrete structures like nuclear power plants (NPPs) is important in order to assess and/or extend the service life of such structures. It is also a safety concern because, in these structures, the prestressing is there to avoid tensile stresses and cracking in case of a severe accident (where an internal pressure is generated). In this paper, the relations proposed in MC2010 and in the future Eurocode 2 for the delayed strains (creep and shrinkage of concrete and relaxation of steel) are used to predict the behaviour of a NPP built 25 years ago. As proposed in the future Eurocode 2, the parameters of the relations giving the evolution of shrinkage and creep are fitted to measurements made on laboratory samples when the NPP was built. The influence of the temperature and of the relative humidity inside the containment are also taken into account. Finally, using the superposition principle in a biaxial context, the predicted delayed strains are compared with the measurements.

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Elsevier {BV}  

DOI： 10.1016/j.cemconres.2018.02.023

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Elsevier {BV}  

DOI： 10.1016/j.cemconres.2016.09.014

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Springer Science and Business Media {LLC}  

DOI： 10.1007/s11043-015-9277-5

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