Course syllabus for Materials performance

Completion of B. Sc. or B. Eng, or corresponding level of education, with the basic knowledge in Buildings Materials and Building Physics (or alternatively Physical Chemistry).

The aim of this course is to provide more intensified scientific based knowledge for students to understand commonly used construction materials, their structures, properties and behaviours under different conditions, so as to be able to critically evaluate materials and apply the knowledge in a performance-based design of buildings and civil engineering constructions.

• describe structures and properties of commonly used construction materials in both micro and macro scales;
• explain materials behaviour under environmental and mechanical loads;
• explain usual deterioration of a given material under the given conditions;
• apply certain models for describing materials behaviour and their deterioration;
• critically evaluate a material or a combination of materials for its functional properties, durability and impact to a sustainable development; and
• apply the achieved knowledge in a performance-based design of buildings and civil engineering constructions.

The course by means of lectures, laboratory exercises, modelling exercises and project works, will deal with the following contents:

• Generic aspects of construction materials regarding to environmental impact, energy consumption, and standardisation.
• Testing and modelling the performance of materials in general (methodology and precision).
• Cementitious materials: their raw materials, mix proportioning, production, structures, fresh and hardened properties, long-term behaviours and influencing factors.
• Metallic materials, their structures, behaviours under load, corrosion and protection.
• Timber, its porous and anisotropic structures, long-term behaviours and influencing factors.
• Other modern materials for façade, repair, strengthening, insulation, etc.

Lectures are given by the lecturers at the department and the researchers invited from relevant research institutes. Laboratory exercises are designed to give the students a practical insight into materials properties, test methods and measurement uncertainty. Exercises are designed for solving specific problems involved in the performance of construction materials. During the course project works will be designed partially in connection with the course VBB122 "Structural System" for solving "open" problems in practical structures, under the assumptions of different exposure conditions.

"Construction Materials - Their nature and behaviour", ed. by  Marios Soutsos and Peter Domone, 5th ed., CRC Press, 2018; Separate outlets, papers and reports.

• Laboratory exercises (12%), assignments (8%), periodic test (20%), project work (20%) and final examination (40%).