Advances in Concrete Science in the Last 50 Years

Presented by: Dr. Surendra P. Shah, Ph.D. Walter P. Murphy Professor of Civil Engineering (Emeritus) Director, Center for Advanced Cement Based Materials Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois Considerable progress has been made in understanding and improving the performance of concrete. Fifty years ago, the commonly used concrete had a compressive strength of 20 MPa. Today we talk about concrete with a compressive strength of 300 MPa. In addition to high strength and ultra-high strength concrete, we have developed high performance concrete for enhanced durability. Recently, the American Concrete Institute has started new committees on ultra-high performance concretes as well as on nanotechnology. Prof. Shah has been extensively involved in these developments during the last 50 years. He will discuss several mutli-discplinary projects that have led to advances we have made in strength, ductility, fracture properties, fiber reinforced concrete, ultrahigh performance concrete, self consolidating concrete, rheology and sustainability