Developing structural applications with concrete composites with light aggregates made of recycled plastics

Civil Engineering at Université Laval

This research aims at developing new concrete composites with recycled plastics to optimize cost, mechanical efficiency, and thermal insulation for structural applications like building floors. The PhD will work in an industrial project with other PhD and MSc. students which will develop an integrated approach for recycling plastics into structural applications.

This research projects includes a wide experimental programme as well as a theoretical model development. The former includes the composite material characterization at different length scales from microstructure to large beams, the use of digital image correlation to measure the damage process, and thermal conductivity tests. The latter consists in the development of homogenization tool to predict the overall properties starting from the property of the plastics and the concrete phases.

The student will enjoy working in an inspiriting research group and a interactive environment.