Report
UANL – RILEM Doctoral course
Durability of Concrete
Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL), Monterrey, Mexico, 23 – 28 August 2014
Organized by: Ole Mejlhede Jensen, Konstantin Kovler and Alejandro Durán Herrera
Participants
A total of 47 students were registered for the course. By host institution in total 3 countries were
represented by the participants: Mexico, Colombia and Belgium. At least 19 of the participants were
PhD-students and more than 14 came from industry. In addition a number of graduate students and
professors participated.
Some of the course participants and teachers
taking a small break
from the studies.
Scope of Course
The course concerned an important area of cement and concrete technology, concrete durability:
Modern concrete technology has identified a number of damage mechanisms that can take place
depending on concrete environment and concrete quality – damage mechanisms which every year
necessitate massive investments in rehabilitation and repair. However, constantly ongoing research
refines our theoretical knowledge about why deterioration takes place, models for prediction of
deterioration are improved, and new measures to prevent deterioration processes appear and extend the
service life of concrete structures.
Course Contents
The course consisted of lectures, written exercises, hands-on laboratory exercises, a poster session and a
student presentation session. In addition, the course included a study tour to a concrete structure, the
third metro line of Monterrey which is expected to carry 280.000 passengers daily. Social activities
during the course took place to promote a stimulating study atmosphere. The lecture plan follows at the
end of this report.
Left: Professor Maria Garci Juenger lecturing on alkali-silicate reactions. Right: Professor Tang
Luping instructing course participants in the lab on how to measure chloride ingress in concrete.
Financial and scientific support
The financial sponsorship by Holcim, CONACYT and Facultad de Ingenieria Civil, UANL was
mentioned at the course and in the course material. The students and teachers were impressed by the
extent of the support. The scientific sponsorship by RILEM and the co-sponsorship by the ACI Mexico
Chapters and Instituto Mexicano del Cemento y del Concreto was mentioned at the course, in folders
and in course material. Furthermore, information was given on the complementary 3-years RILEM
membership offered to PhD-students participating in the doctoral course.
Lecturers
The following persons lectured on the course:
• Alejandro Durán Herrera, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Mexico
• Ole Mejlhede Jensen, Technical University of Denmark
• Maria Garci Juenger, University of Texas at Austin
• Konstantin Kovler, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
• Tang Luping, Chalmers university of Technology, Sweden
• Jason Weiss, Purdue University, USA
Workload, ECTS points and learning outcomes
The workload of the full course was approximately 140 hours corresponding to 5 ECTS points,
including the period at UANL, preparatory reading before the course, and completion of individual
posters. The learning outcomes of the participants were evaluated mainly through the individual poster
presentations and through the plenum presentations finalizing the course. A certificate of participation
was issued to the participants completing the course.
Course Evaluation
At the end of the course an evaluation was conducted. A total of 22 participants completed the
questionnaire which dealt with every module of the course. On a scale “unsatisfactory” – “bad” –
“satisfactory” – “well” – “very well”, far the majority of the responses were “well” or “very well”.
Many students expressed spontaneously that they found the course very good and useful for their PhDstudies.
300 Number of responses
250
200
150
100
50
0
Unsatisf.
bad
Satisf.
well
very well
Based on the responses received trough the questionnaires and the personal contacts during and after the
course it is concluded that the event was very successful.
Left: Study tour to the construction site of the third Monterrey metro line. Right: Course organizers
together with a happy student receiving her poster presentation “gold prize” during the gala dinner.
Continuation of the course
It is expected that another course of a related topic will be given within the next four years.
Ole Mejlhede Jensen, Konstantin Kovler and Alejandro Durán Herrera
October 3, 2014