A significant share of the global environmental impact related to energy and raw materials consumption, waste production, and greenhouse gas emission is due to the construction industry. To face the increasing demand for new infrastructures, urban spaces, and public service buildings in emerging countries, and to fulfill the need for maintenance and restoration of the existing structures in developed countries, the construction industry itself must evolve, resort to novel low‐impact materials, and improve their mechanical and durability performances to extend their overall service life. Self-healing concretes and alternative alkali‐activated conglomerates are amongst the innovative construction materials that display the greatest potential in this sense because they can offer autonomous repair properties to eliminate or reduce the maintenance operations in time, and they also allow the incorporation or transformation of waste materials into high-performance construction products. This course aims to present the most recent advances on the development and experimental characterization of such materials, in order to provide a better understanding of their manufacturing and installation processes, micro‐ and macro‐structural properties, potential applications, and possible limitations. This will allow the future Building Engineers to master both theoretical and practical aspects related to the mechanics of these innovative materials, and eventually promote their use in the construction industry during their professional activity.

The course aims to provide the theoretical and experimental bases for the development and application of innovative green building materials with improved mechanical performances and durability. Therefore, at the end of the course, the student is expected to: • know the main open issues in terms of environmental impact and durability problems in the field of construction materials and understand the possible improvement strategies; • know and understand the development processes and the consequent mechanical properties of some types of self-healing cementitious materials and alkali-activated materials; • know and understand the experimental methods for the mechanical characterization and pre-qualification of these materials; • apply the knowledge acquired to understand the possible limitations of use and select the most suitable innovative materials according to specific design needs, with reference to practical application examples; • apply the acquired knowledge to interpret sets of experimental data.

From the previous course of Structural Mechanics, the student should know how to analyze the strain and stress field in a 3D continuum and in the Saint Venant solid. Basic knowledge about science and technology of cementitious materials is also recommendable.

• Environmental impact issues in the production and use of construction materials (3h). • Causes and phenomenology of damage and structural degradation in construction materials (3h). • Innovative conglomerates for structural applications: concept, mechanical behavior, and examples regarding alkali-activated materials and alternative binders, concretes with recycled aggregates and additives, self-healing concretes with improved durability (9h). • Theorical and experimental methods for the analysis of material mechanics and structural assessment (3h). • Mechanical performances and pre-qualification of innovative conglomerates for structural applications: laboratory classes for mechanical characterization and durability evaluation (42h).

The course is divided into classroom lessons and laboratory classes. Classroom lessons cover the part of the syllabus related to the theoretical bases and to the analysis of the most recent literature findings in the field of the mechanics of innovative construction materials. They can be given in presence or in remote mode without substantial differences in terms of educational effectiveness. They provide the tools to successfully attend the subsequent part of the course, in which a more active involvement of the students is achieved by means of laboratory classes, that should take place preferably onsite. The laboratory classes cover the part of the syllabus related to the study of the mechanical performances and pre-qualification methods of innovative conglomerates for structural applications. The students will directly manufacture some prototypes of self-healing cementitious materials and/or alkali-activated materials. With the supervision of the teaching staff, they will carry out a series of experimental tests, including mechanical flexural and compressive tests, water permeability and/or water absorption tests, to assess the mechanical and durability properties of the prototypes. The laboratory results will be selected, systematized, analyzed, and further elaborated by the students, divided into working groups, to give rise to a report (in the form of a scientific article or research project) which will be presented during the oral exam and will contribute to the definition of the final grade.

Literature reviews and additional reading materials will be made available through the Teaching Portal.

Modalità di esame: Prova orale obbligatoria;

Exam: Compulsory oral exam;

... The exam consists of a mandatory oral test. The oral test starts with a presentation of the laboratory report, usually performed in group with the aid of slides for a duration of about 15 minutes, during which the group components can speak in turn. The presentation is then followed by an individual discussion during which the student is asked two questions, one strictly related to the laboratory report and the other one regarding the course topics in general. At the end, the teacher proposes a grade out of thirty, that reflects the evaluation of the laboratory report and of the related capacity to critically discuss the experimental results (weight 70%) and the evaluation of the overall learning of the course topics (weight 30%).

Gli studenti e le studentesse con disabilità o con Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento (DSA), oltre alla segnalazione tramite procedura informatizzata, sono invitati a comunicare anche direttamente al/la docente titolare dell'insegnamento, con un preavviso non inferiore ad una settimana dall'avvio della sessione d'esame, gli strumenti compensativi concordati con l'Unità Special Needs, al fine di permettere al/la docente la declinazione più idonea in riferimento alla specifica tipologia di esame.

Modalità di esame: Prova orale obbligatoria;

The exam consists of a mandatory oral test. In case of online exam, a suitable platform (such as BBB, Skype, Zoom, etc.) is preliminarily selected according to the students' preference and direct links are provided for remote connection on the exam day. The oral test starts with a presentation of the laboratory report, usually performed in group with the aid of slides for a duration of about 15 minutes, during which the group components can speak in turn. The presentation is then followed by an individual discussion during which the student is asked two questions, one strictly related to the laboratory report and the other one regarding the course topics in general. At the end, the teacher proposes a grade out of thirty, that reflects the evaluation of the laboratory report and of the related capacity to critically discuss the experimental results (weight 70%) and the evaluation of the overall learning of the course topics (weight 30%).

Modalità di esame: Prova orale obbligatoria;

The exam consists of a mandatory oral test. In case of blended mode, a suitable platform (such as BBB, Skype, Zoom, etc.) is preliminarily selected according to the students' preference. Direct links for remote connection are provided on the exam day to the students who cannot be present onsite. The oral test starts with a presentation of the laboratory report, usually performed in group with the aid of slides for a duration of about 15 minutes, during which the group components can speak in turn. The presentation is then followed by an individual discussion during which the student is asked two questions, one strictly related to the laboratory report and the other one regarding the course topics in general. At the end, the teacher proposes a grade out of thirty, that reflects the evaluation of the laboratory report and of the related capacity to critically discuss the experimental results (weight 70%) and the evaluation of the overall learning of the course topics (weight 30%).