Groupe des Ecoles des Mines - Civil Engineering Department

The Civil Engineering Department carries out basic research on the interaction of civil engineering materials and the environment. The research strategy of the Department of Civil Engineering consists of combining physico-chemistry and mechanical aspects in an experimental and numerical method. The reciprocal interaction between the material, either concrete or road surface material and the environment leads to a definition of two scenarios.

In the first scenario, the environment supplies matter to the material, this can contribute to a partial destabilisation of the latter. This situation leads us to identify the durability of the materials in a given environment and this, in turn gives useful notions that allow us not only to guarantee the lifetime of the works but also show how to restore them. The mechanisms of alteration are studied, starting from the microstructure (physico-chemistry of the process of degradation), through to the structure (mechanical and transfer properties).

In the second scenario, the material releases matter to the surrounding environment, which can lead to the pollution of the latter resulting from the constituents of the concrete or of the road material. This last scenario mainly concerns the recycling of industrial co-products, an activity for which the Civil Engineering Department is today an important player in the French scene. Research carried out within this framework is aimed at responding to the requirements of industry and can have effects on durable development. In this case it is necessary not only to verify the mechanisms for the lixiviation of the chemical elements but also the compatibility of the constituents used for the concrete or the road in order to guarantee good durability. In parallel, the use of co-products depends on the mechanical behavior of the materials subjected to different types of complex loads.

Head of Department : Denis DAMIDOT, Pr.

 Faculty : 8 (incl. 2 HDR)
 Technical & administrative staff : 5
 PhD students : 7

The department has test facilities which allow the measurement of mechanical resistance, and the control of hydraulic binders, aggregates, soil and concrete. The department has also developed specific tests for lixiviation.

Equipment for the characterization of mineralogy and the microstructure is also available:
 optical microscope with digital camera,
 stereoscopic magnifying glass,
 environmental scanning electron microscope,
 X-ray diffractometer,
 differential thermal analysis,
 specific surface area measurement,
 mercury intrusion porosimeter.

The numeric simulation is also widely used through finite elements models (CASTEM, ABAQUS,...) and reactive transport codes (HYTEC, MODFLOW...)..