May 18th - 24th, 2024 - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Keynote Speakers
1. History of AAR in Canada and worldwide
Chris Rogers
Børge Johannes Wigum
Chris Rogers was educated at Manchester University in geology and has a Masters degree from the University of Windsor in geology. He worked as a petrographer and laboratory manager for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation for 32 years. He then taught geology to engineers at Toronto Metropolitan University for a number of years and also at the University of Toronto. He does consulting work on physical problems with aggregates, aggregate prospecting and petrography of hardened concrete. He has been active both within ASTM and CSA standards. In particular, four test methods developed under his guidance have been adopted into ASTM standards: two for alkali-aggregate reaction and two for physical properties of coarse and fine aggregate. In CSA standards he has had 5 new test methods adopted, and also has had an influence on standard practices related to assessing alkali-aggregate reactivity as chair of the responsible subcommittee for more than 20 years. He has also served as Chair of the CSA Committee on Concrete and Concrete Materials leading to the 2019 standard. He is also an honorary member of ASTM Committee C9 (Concrete and Concrete Aggregates). He has written over 80 papers on the use of aggregates in concrete and other applications. He was part of the organizing committee with Paddy Grattan-Bellew for the 6th International Conference on AAR held in Ottawa in 1986 and has attended many of the meetings held since then.
Engineering Geologist, Dr Børge Johannes Wigum is a Senior Project Manager at Heidelberg Materials Northern Europe, and from 2007 – 2020 he was adjunct Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). He is born in Norway but have been living in Iceland for more than 30 years. His main topics of expertise are Alkali Aggregate Reactions (AAR) in concrete, the production and utilization of manufactured sand in concrete, and the utilization of volcanic pozzolans as Supplementary Cementitious Materials (SCM). He was chairman of the previous RILEM TC 258-AAA (2014 – 2020).
2. Alkali silica reaction – revealing the expansion mechanism
Andreas Leemann
Andreas Leemann graduated in geology at the ETH Zurich in 1989 and finished his PhD on lake research in 1993. Since 1995 he works at Empa in Switzerland in the Concrete & Asphalt Laboratory and currently heads the concrete technology group. He works mainly on the durability of concrete including sulfate attack, leaching and carbonation. A particular focus of his work is on ASR where he employs a variety of microscopy methods to characterize the microstructure. Additionally, he is active in the field of recycling concrete.
3. Condition assessment of ISR-induced deterioration at the mesoscale: connecting micro-mechanisms and macro-performance of affected concrete
Leandro Sanchez
Renaud-Pierre MARTIN
Dr. Leandro Sanchez is an Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa. His expertise is related to the development of sustainable concrete materials and concrete durability, especially the diagnosis and prognosis of concrete affected by Internal Swelling Reactions (ISR). He has co-authored over 160 refereed publications on concrete sustainability and durability and contributed to the development of standard test protocols, along with descriptive, empirical and numerical models for the design and assessment of concrete. Dr. Sanchez is an active participant on several national and international committees and is currently the deputy chair of the RILEM TC AAR - Alkali-aggregate mitigation in concrete and ACI Committee 221 - Aggregates. He is also the current chair of the 17th International Conference on Alkali-Aggregate Reaction in Concrete (ICAAR) to be held in Ottawa in 2024. Dr. Sanchez is a reviewer for a number of important journals in the field and is a recipient of highly prestigious awards such as VANIER PhD scholarship (2010), NSERC Early Career Research Award (2016), NFRF-Exploration grant (2019), the distinguished Ministry of Ontario Early Research Award (ERA, 2021) and the Faculty of Engineering Early Career Researcher Award (ECRA, 2023).
Renaud-Pierre MARTIN graduated from Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l’Etat, Lyon, France, in Civil Engineering in 2006. He finished his PhD from Université Paris Est on Materials and Structures in Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées (LCPC) in 2010. He started his career at IFSTTAR as a research engineer on durability of concrete structures, with a main focus on internal swelling reactions, both at the material and the structural scales. Since then, he has been involved in various RILEM Technical committees. Since 2023 he is the Director of the Urban and Civil Engineering Testing and Modelling Laboratory (EMGCU) at Université Gustave Eiffel, France.
4. Structural implications and management of infrastructure assets affected by ISR
François Toutlemonde
Mark Alexander
Pilate Moyo
François Toutlemonde, Ph.D., is a General Civil Engineer, Research Director, Head of the Materials and Structures (MAST) Department of Gustave Eiffel University, France. Before being included in Gustave Eiffel University, the MAST department has been part of IFSTTAR, the French Public Works Research Institute (former LCPC), where Dr F. Toutlemonde has been working since 1990 and led a number of research projects in the field of concrete and concrete structures.
Dr F. Toutlemonde graduated from Ecole Polytechnique in 1987 and Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in 1990. He obtained his Ph.D. in 1994 in the Materials and Structures Specialty and the Research Direction Degree from Eastern Paris University in 2003. His research interests include shock resistance of concrete structures, durability issues of concrete structures, including Alkali-Silica Reaction and Delayed Ettringite Formation, and structural applications of new concrete: high performance concrete, fiber-reinforced concrete, and above all ultra-high performance fiber-reinforced concrete (UHPFRC).
He has authored over 75 peer-reviewed papers in international scientific journals and supervised 15 Ph.D.s. He has been an expert advisor for several UHPFRC projects and worked with Bruno Godart on ISR-affected structures management guidance. He has chaired the scientific committee of 4 international conferences with over 300 attendees: CONSEC'07 (Concrete under severe conditions) in Tours; UHPFRC'2009 in Marseille; UHPFRC'2013 also in Marseille; and UHPFRC'2017 in Montpellier. He has been an expert for the French Nuclear Safety Authority since 2001 and a French delegate in European Standardization committees related to concrete and concrete structures. He has been active in elaborating the French Standards for UHPFRC in 2014-2018 and chairs the French Standardization Committee for Concrete since January 2021. He has served as the president of the Paris Chapter of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) since 2006.
Mark Alexander is Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering, and a Senior Research Scholar in the University of Cape Town. He has a PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and is a Fellow of the University of Cape Town, of RILEM, of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering, the South African Academy of Engineering, and the Indian Concrete Institute. He is a registered Professional Engineer in South Africa. His research interests are in concrete durability, service life prediction, concrete sustainability, and repair and rehabilitation of deteriorated concrete structures.
Pilate Moyo is a Professor of Structural Engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Cape Town. His research focuses on developing and deploying intelligent infrastructure health monitoring and performance assessment technologies. This work seeks to improve infrastructure management, operation and maintenance by continuously tracking its performance using sensing technologies, numerical modelling and advanced data analysis. A key aspect of this work is investigating the effects of climate change on infrastructure's short-term and long-term performance.
5. Laboratory vs field performance of AAR-affected concrete: state of the art and paths moving forward using European and North American guidelines
Jan Lindgård
Thano Drimalas
Dr Jan Lindgård is senior scientist at SINTEF in Trondheim, Norway, where he has the subject responsibility for testing and research related to alkali-silica reaction (ASR). He has also long experience with other concrete durability issues. Assessment and testing of concrete aggregates are also part of his expertise and subject responsibility. Since 2000, he has given lectures at NTNU about ASR and concrete aggregates. He also performs peer-review work for several international journals.
Dr Lindgård has since the early 1990'ties been involved in many national as well as international research projects related to various ASR issues, but also some other deterioration mechanisms. Recently, he was project leader for the large research project "Alkali-silica reaction in concrete – Reliable concept for performance testing" (2014-1019) that also included close co-operation with leading international scientists. His expertise includes field survey and assessment of concrete structures affected by ASR and other deterioration mechanisms, moisture measurements, laboratory testing of aggregates and concrete (incl. microstructural analysis) and preventive measures for ASR and freeze/thaw damage. In 2013, he defended his PhD project focusing on development of reliable ASR performance test methods. During the last 10 years, he has built up a field station in Trondheim for exposure of ASR concrete samples aiming to calibrate laboratory test methods. For almost 30 years Dr Lindgård has been actively involved in the development of national ASR test methods and regulations, and for almost 20 years also on a global scale during his active participation in RILEM technical committees and as work package leader in the EU "PARTNER" project (2002-2006). He acted as the deputy chair of the committee RILE TC 258-AAA (i.e., Avoiding alkali aggregate reactions in concrete - Performance based concept) from 2014 to 2020.
Thano Drimalas is a Research Associate in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineer at The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX. He has been a concrete researcher for over 20 years and was awarded the 2015 ACI Wason Medal for Materials Research and an ACI Fellow in 2023. Thano Drimalas is a member of ACI Committees 201, Durability of Concrete; 301, Specifications for Concrete Construction; 321, Concrete Durability Code, and 350C-00, Environmental Engineering Concrete Structure Code. He is also a member of American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) C01 and C09 He is Chair of ASTM C09.50 Aggregate Reactions and is on the C09 Executive Committee. He is an internationally recognized expert in concrete durability, particularly alkali-silica reaction (ASR) and sulfate attack. He is also an expert in the use of supplementary cementitious materials in concrete with the goal of reducing concrete’s carbon footprint. He received his BS, MS, and PhD in Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in 2003, 2004, and 2007, respectively.
6. Effect of Alkalis on AAR: from thermodynamic modeling to performance-based tests
Jason Ideker
Barbara Lothenbach
Jason H. Ideker is the Eric H.I. and Janice Hoffman Professor in Civil and Construction Engineering at Oregon State University. He is an international leader and expert in durability of cementitious materials particularly alkali-silica reaction (ASR) including reaction mechanisms, preventive measures, and test methods and standards development. He is an internationally recognized expert in hydration, early-age properties, and cracking risk of cement-based materials, particularly calcium aluminate cements and ettringite based-systems. His research team’s multi-scale approach results in translational research that combines fundamental scientific understanding with the improvement and development of test methods and specifications that improve concrete performance. While his research interests are anchored in the aforementioned areas, Ideker also has expertise in the performance of Portland limestone cements, high replacements of blended SCM systems to meet the demand for low carbon binders and ultra-high-performance concrete.
Ideker is passionate about education and mentorship and recently lead an effort to overhaul the entire first-year engineering curriculum at Oregon State University into what is now known as “ENGINEERING+”. Ideker is Co-Director of the Green Building Materials Laboratory, Editor-in-Chief of CEMENT, Co-Editor-in-Chief of ASTM’s Advances in Civil Engineering Materials, Chair of RILEM TC 301 ASR and Secretary of ASTM C09.50.
Barbara Lothenbach is head of the group cement chemistry and thermodynamics at Empa (Switzerland) and (associate) professor at University of Berne and NTNU (Norway). After her PhD at ETH in Zürich in 1996, she has worked as a project leader and consultant scientist for nuclear wastes. In 2002, she has joined the Laboratory Concrete & Asphalt at Empa in Switzerland. Her current research interests include hydration mechanisms of cementitious materials, thermodynamic modelling, characterization techniques, pore solutions, alkali-aggregate reaction, supplementary cementitious materials and non-Portland cement binders such as calcium sulfoaluminate and magnesium-based binders.