• Jörg Schröder, University of Duisburg-Essen
• Steffen Anders, University of Wuppertal (BUW)
• Dominik Brands, University of Duisburg-Essen
• Laura de Lorenzis, ETH Zurich
• Peter Wriggers, Leibniz University Hannover
• Michael Kaliske, Technische Universität Dresden
• Ken Terada, Tohoku University

Modern concretes are increasingly used in light, filigree, high-rise and resource-efficient structures which, however, are more susceptible to vibrations. Structures and components - such as long-span bridges for high-speed trains, wind-power plants or machine foundations - are also typically subjected to complex and variable loading histories as well as very high numbers of load cycles, which are far beyond testing possibilities. The fatigue behavior of concretes and structural members is decisive for successful design and realization of such applications.

The aim of this mini-symposium is to bring together experts in material degradation of concrete, with a focus on capturing, understanding, describing, modelling and predicting the damage processes using the newest experimental and numerical methods. Since the damage processes and damage evolution occur on a very small scale, they cannot be entirely observed during the load tests. Therefore, the identification, and continuous recording of suitable damage indicators during experiments make the time-consuming fatigue tests even more demanding. Therefore, close cooperation between material science, mechanics and numerical modelling is getting increasingly important. Closely coordinated approaches in Experimental-Virtual-Labs between experiment and computation are needed to extent knowledge to very high numbers of cycles and to assess high-cycle fatigue behavior of new concrete mixes basing on short-term and low-cycle tests.

Topics of interest include (but not limited to) model-based description of the heterogeneous concrete microstructure (with and without fibers), damage and crack development at different scale levels and for different moisture conditions, multi-level and time-variant loading, cycle-jump approaches and prediction of damage evolution, from both, a material-science and a numerical-modelling point of view.