National Research Program serves as a platform for a number of new project development and co-operation:

COST Action TU1404. Towards the next generation of standards for service life of cement-based materials and structures COST is the longest-running European framework supporting trans-national cooperation among researchers, engineers and scholars across Europe. COST aims to enable breakthrough scientific developments leading to new concepts and products. It thereby contributes to strengthening Europe’s research and innovation capacities.

The main objective of the action is to develop a new generation of guidelines/recommendations to predict/evaluate the service life of cement based materials and structures in Europe by integrating the most recent developments in experimental and numerical approaches, with particular focus concrete performance from early ages. These guidelines will focus on material and structural behaviour, and recently developed tools to assist design at two levels: (i) experimental techniques; and (ii) numerical simulation methods. This will be achieved through networking activities of mutual validation and benchmarking, development of new products together with industrial partners (experimental techniques and software) and parallel drafting of documents that can open the path to faster standardization. The networking activities will surely bring about innovations that would be unattainable by individual participants.

In the pursuit of the main general aim stated above, the following more specific objectives/deliverables have been considered:

  • To systematize knowledge on the use and relative performance of testing techniques for characterization of CBM since early ages, and to assist in drafting recommendations on new and existing test procedures;
  • To establish a strong link between the opportunities provided by recent/new developments in experimental techniques and the increasingly capable/complex simulation models that are under development (focusing on multiscale and multiphysics approaches). This is a fundamental step towards the establishment of new generation guidelines based on new technological opportunities;
  • To collect and contribute to up-to-date knowledge on numerical modelling assumptions, parameter choices and strategies for the evaluation of CBM and structures at both early ages and throughout the service life. The collected knowledge will help to establish advanced guidelines for modelling;
  • To update existing recommendations and norms for testing and modelling CBM during their service life, and propose new recommendations and norms for recently devised experimental techniques;
  • To promote integrated initiatives between equipment manufacturing companies and R&D institutions, so as to develop new products for the European market;
  • To support the creation of technical/scientific committees (while bridging activities with RILEM and fib), and initiate joint research grant proposals that assist further deepening of the objectives of this COST Action;
  • To disseminate outcome of the above objectives so as to achieve the highest possible impact to the European construction sector.

COST Action TU1404 webpage: www.tu1404.eu

Projects Performance period Projects descriptions
PhD on Innovation Pathways for TES, INPATH-TES, H2020-LCE-2014-2  2015-2017 Projektā «PhD on Innovation Pathways for TES» izveidotā starptautiskā programma paaugstinās doktorantūras studentu apmācību efektivitāti un prasmes. RTU šo projektu realizēs, izmantojot ESF finansētā kopprojektā «Latvijas klimatam un kvalitatīvas dzīves vides nodrošināšanai piemērotu ilgtspējīgu un sistēmisku risinājumu izstrāde gandrīz nulles patēriņa ēkām» iegūtās zināšanas un prasmes, kā arī  izveidoto infrastruktūru.

Partners:

Universitat de Lleida (Spānija), Universitat de Barcelona (Spānija), University of Ulster (Apvienotā Karaliste), University of Çukurova (Turcija), Trinity College Dublin(Īrija), Universita della Calabria (Itālija), Universita Degli Studi Di Perugia (Itālija), Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (Izraēla), Universidade do Minho (Portugāle), Universiteit Gent (Beļģija), Politechnika Warszawska (Polija), Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (Nīderlande), Université de Lyon (Francija) un Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte. Zinātniskie institūti: AIT (Austrija), DLR (Vācija) un PROMES-CNRS (Francija). Uzņēmumi: Arcelik (Turcija), Abengoa Solar NT (Spānija), KIC InnoEnergy (Nīderlande), UFP (Spānija) un LAIF (Itālija).
“The study and application of high performance concrete”  2017-2019 The main idea of the project is the interaction of the high strength concrete (70÷100 MPa or 10000÷15000 psi), which has been modified in the micro and nano-levels, with the local aggregates and fillers as well as commercial and waste pozzolanic materials or microfillers. Advanced HPC are multi-component mixes requiring a new approach to the production and casting technologies. Therefore, for implementing the use of these materials thus contributing to the national economy, it is planned to develop production technologies of HPC, which would use the existing concrete production facilities in all participant countries, thus significantly improving the technological process in order to ensure dosage, efficient mixing and transportation for the multi-component mixes (HPC).  Over time, it is planned to introduce innovative solutions into production intended for dispersion of fine components and for optimisation of mixing process parameters by using advanced intensive high-shear mixers.
Cost TU 1404, Towards the next generation of standards for service life of cement-based materials and structures 2014-2018 Cement-based materials (CBM) are the foremost construction materials worldwide. Therefore, there are widely accepted standards for their structural applications. However, for service life designs, current approaches largely depend on CBM strength class and restrictions on CBM constituents. Consequently, the service life behaviour of CBM structures is still analysed with insufficiently rigorous approaches that are based on outdated scientific knowledge, particularly regarding the cumulative behaviour since early ages. This results in partial client satisfaction at the completion stage, increased maintenance/repair costs from early ages, and reduced service life of structures, with consequential economic/sustainability impacts. Despite significant research advances that have been achieved in the last decade in testing and simulation of CBM and thereby predicting their service life performance, there have been no generalized European-funded Actions to assure their incorporation in standards available to designers/contractors. Therefore, the main purpose of this Action is to bring together relevant stakeholders (experimental and numerical researchers, standardization offices, manufacturers, designers, contractors, owners and authorities) in order to accelerate knowledge transfer in the form of new guidelines/recommendations, introduce new products and technologies to the market, and promote international and inter-speciality exchange of new information, creating avenues for new developments.
COST TU 1301, NORM for Building materials (NORM4BUILDING) 2013-2017 The depletion of energy resourses and raw materials has a huge impact on the building market. In the development of new synthetic building materials the reuse of various (waste) residue streams becomes a necessity. This COST initiative stimulates the collaboration of scientists, industries and regulators to gather knowledge, experiences and technologies, to stimulate research on the reuse of residues containing enhanced concentrations of natural radionuclides (NORM) in tailor-made building materials in the construction sector while considering the impact on both external gamma exposure of building occupants and indoor air quality. By improving radiological impact assessment models for the reuse of NORM residues in building materials we hope to further stimulate justified uses of NORM residues in different types of newly developed building materials. Based on these models, we aim at investigating realistic legislative scenarios so that the authorities concerned can allow reuse pathways for NORM that can be accepted from a radioprotection point of view in concordance with the Lead Marked Initiative (LMI) and sustainable construction.