SUMMARY

Ultra-High-Performance Concretes (UHPCs) are a promising class of cementitious materials that have superior mechanical properties to Normal Strength Concretes (NSCs). However, UHPCs have been slow to transition from laboratory testing to structural applications, partly due to an intuitive trial-and-error materials development process. This proposal highlights research achievements and identifies directions for future research to reduce the time required to implement UHPC materials subject to extreme loading conditions such as blast, impact, and exposure to rapid thermal heating. The research conducted to date consists of a hierarchical multiscale model composed of three different length scales - single fiber, multiple fiber, and structural panel - that quantify the mechanical response of UHPC panels to blast loading. The hierarchical multiscale model is proposed to be combined with analytical expressions and experimental results available in literature to define a set of processing-structures-properties-performance (PSPP) mappings. The proposed research will apply the Inductive Design Exploration Method (IDEM) to the set of PSPP mappings to determine robust material designs for the three performance objectives. The significance of this work is a computational materials design framework that will drastically reduce the development time of new UHPC materials.