Computational Methods for Building Physics and Construction Materials - online

PLEASE SEND REGISTRATION FORM TO E-Mail: info@wib.tu-darmstadt.de

Course description:

The course contains detailed lecturing on computational methods for differential equations, numerical solution strategies, explicit and implicit discretization, method of lines, boundary conditions and implementation of physical processes that frequently occur in construction materials. Emphasis will be on the finite difference and finite element methods applied to transport processes, active in porous construction materials such as concrete, insulation materials, etc. Typical problems that will be addressed in this course are thermal, moisture and/or reactive transport modelling, chloride ingress modelling, coupled moisture - heat systems, and cement hydration kinetics and particle structure generation. The course provides a full solution strategy, starting from a physical problem, to schematization and discretization, to boundary conditions evaluation, implementation and computational solution.

Key topics:

• Steady state problems – discretization and implementation in Excel
• Transient problems – explicit & implicit heat and moisture flow – implementation in Octave/FEM
• Coupled systems – heat and moisture flow, discretization and implementation in Octave/FEM
• Particle structure formation and hydration kinetics of cementitious systems
• Demonstrations and exercises with realistic examples