Performance Modeling of Spherical Capsules during Mixing of Self-Consolidating Concrete

Autonomous healing is a very promising technique in self-healing concrete systems. For capsules to achieve their anticipated performance, they should be able to survive the harsh mixing conditions of concrete, yet rupture upon concrete cracking. At present, there are no standard test methods, either experimental or analytical, for determining the capsule survival rate during concrete mixing. This study investigates the correlation between the capsules' shell properties, concrete rheological properties, the capsules' external forces, and capsule survival rate during concrete mixing. Finite element and statistical modeling techniques were employed to evaluate the capsule performance and predict the survival rate of capsules during concrete mixing, with 68% confidence. The results revealed that the capsules' survivability during concrete mixing is highly influenced by the capsule's radius-to-thickness ratio, the rheological properties of the fresh concrete, the average-paste-thickness (APT) of the concrete mix, the aggregate content and angularity, and the speed of the mixer. In brief, capsules with a radius-to-thickness ratio between 30 and 45 are likely to survive concrete mixing and yet still rupture upon concrete cracking.