COST Action TU1404 hosted a training school on ‘MODELLING OF CEMENT BASED MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES’ during the week of 9-13 October 2017 at the Silesian University of Technology in Poland.

The program had intricate connections with the objectives of TU1404, with particular emphasis on subjects related to Workgroup 2 ‘MODELLING OF CEMENT BASED MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES’.

The course was mainly targeted to young researchers (PhD students and Early Career Investigators) allowing them to have a deep contact with several subjects related to modelling of cement-based materials at different levels (from micro to macroscopic modelling). The course was attended by 28 participants, 26 of whom have been awarded with COST TU grants.

The course covered important topics related to modelling of cement-based materials and structures with a special focus on the aspects related to service life:

1. Modelling evolution of microstructure
2. Modelling hydration and temperature evolution (focus on massive structures)
3. Modelling shrinkage and creep
4. Modelling cracking
5. Numerical methods
6. Modelling real-life cases and benchmarking

The course consisted of lectures and practical classes (with numerical exercises to be solved by the students), as well as self-work of the students who were challenger to individually solve chosen tasks related to modelling of CBMs.

The total work load was approximately 140 hours corresponding to 5 ECTS credits, including the contact time during the course, the preparatory reading assignments given before the course, the preparation of a poster presentations at the start of the course, and the oral presentation at the end of the course. Certificates have been issued to all participates upon successful completion of the course.

The participants of the training school prepared posters presenting their current research. Dedicated poster sessions were organised. The authors of two best posters were awarded with full reimbursement of their participation in the next year final COST TU1404 conference SynerCrete'18 in Madeira. The awardees were Carlos Serra (National Laboratory for Civil Engineering in Portugal) and Niloufar Zabihi (Istanbul Technical University in Turkey). Congratulations!