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Experimental Study, Numerical Simulation & Structural Applications of Construction Materials—3rd Edition

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction and Building Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 September 2025 | Viewed by 407

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Xiaoqing Xu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Interests: steel and concrete composite structures; concrete; fiber-reinforced concrete; steel; corrosion; fatigue; bridge engineering; numerical modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Fengjiang Qin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Civil Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
Interests: steel and concrete composite structures; engineered cementitious composites (ECC); ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC); high strength steel structures; bridge strengthening
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Construction materials play a critical role in building modern infrastructures, representing an enormous investment in raw materials, energy, and capital, with the results being significant environmental burdens and social costs. In recent decades, novel advanced construction materials and their structural applications have emerged with the support of continuously developing innovative technologies. To achieve higher-performing construction materials and advanced construction technologies, further research has to be implemented by researchers and technicians.

After our successful two editions of this Special Issue, titled “Experimental Study, Numerical Simulation & Structural Applications of Construction Materials”, we are delighted to open this third edition.

This Special Issue of Materials invites original research articles and comprehensive reviews regarding experimental studies, numerical simulations, and structural applications of construction materials.

We look forward to your submissions.

Dr. Xiaoqing Xu
Dr. Fengjiang Qin
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • mechanical properties
  • structural performance
  • high performance
  • reinforced concrete
  • structural steel
  • fiber-reinforced polymer
  • numerical modelling
  • repair and strengthening of structures

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 7172 KiB  
Article
Flexural Behavior of Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) Slabs with Different Strength Grades
by Fengjiang Qin, Yang Han, Xinyan Wei, Xuejun Wang, Zhigang Zhang and Xiaoyue Zhang
Materials 2025, 18(9), 2047; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma18092047 - 30 Apr 2025
Abstract
Engineering Cementitious Composites (ECC) has gained significant attention in civil engineering due to its excellent tensile strength, crack width control capability, and remarkable ductility. This study examines the influence of the ECC strength and reinforcement on the flexural behavior of ECC slabs through [...] Read more.
Engineering Cementitious Composites (ECC) has gained significant attention in civil engineering due to its excellent tensile strength, crack width control capability, and remarkable ductility. This study examines the influence of the ECC strength and reinforcement on the flexural behavior of ECC slabs through four-point flexural tests. The results demonstrate that ECC is well suited for flexural applications. During flexural tests, the fibers within the ECC provide a bridging effect, allowing the ECC in the tensile zone to sustain a load while developing a dense network of fine microcracks at failure. This characteristic significantly enhances the crack resistance of ECC slabs. Despite the relatively low flexural capacity of unreinforced ECC slabs, they achieve 59.2% of the capacity of reinforced ECC slabs with a reinforcement ratio of 1.02%, demonstrating the potential for using unreinforced ECC in low-load-bearing applications. Further findings reveal that high-strength ECC (HSECC) not only improves the flexural capacity of unreinforced ECC slabs but also maintains excellent ductility, enabling a better balance between the load-bearing capacity and deformation ability. However, while reinforcement enhances both the flexural capacity and energy absorption, an excessively high reinforcement ratio significantly compromises ductility. Additionally, this study proposes a simplified calculation method for the flexural capacity of ECC slabs based on the axial force and moment equilibrium, providing theoretical support for their design and application. Due to their excellent flexural behavior, ECC slabs exhibit significant potential for use in flexural components such as bridge deck slabs and link slabs in simply supported beam bridges. With continued research and optimization, their application in engineering practice is expected to become more widespread, thereby improving the cracking resistance and durability of concrete structures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental Study, Numerical Simulation & Structural Applications of Construction Materials—3rd Edition)
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15 pages, 4361 KiB  
Article
Estimation of the Spacing Factor Based on Air Pore Distribution Parameters in Air-Entrained Concrete
by Jerzy Wawrzeńczyk and Henryk Kowalczyk
Materials 2025, 18(8), 1716; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma18081716 - 9 Apr 2025
Viewed by 266
Abstract
Air-void characteristics are defined in the EN-480-11 test method. The primary criticism of Powers’ model comes from the fact that the spacing factor is calculated with the average chord length, without taking into account the chord length distribution. The aim of this study [...] Read more.
Air-void characteristics are defined in the EN-480-11 test method. The primary criticism of Powers’ model comes from the fact that the spacing factor is calculated with the average chord length, without taking into account the chord length distribution. The aim of this study is to determine whether an analysis of the chord length distribution can provide a more accurate estimate of the spacing factor. A data set containing 110 air-entrained concretes with various characteristics was analyzed. The artificial neural network method was applied to develop a model that determines the relationship between the spacing factor, L2, and the parameters of the air-void structure. The input parameters for the ANN-L2 model included the following: A, d, and W—characteristics of the chord size distribution, P—cement paste content, and N5—number of large pores. The ANN model allows for a sufficiently accurate estimation of the spacing factor, L2. The most significant factors that influenced L were the peak amplitude, A; peak width, W; and cement paste content, P. There was a strong correlation between the results of the ANN model and the standard spacing factor L2, indicating that both calculation methods produced comparable results. Finally, a simple method for using the ANN model to calculate the spacing factor in Excel is demonstrated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental Study, Numerical Simulation & Structural Applications of Construction Materials—3rd Edition)
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