Falk Wittel: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2017

Award: The Golden Owl
Name Dr. Falk Wittel
Name variantsFalk K. Wittel
Address
Institut für Baustoffe (IfB)
ETH Zürich, HIF E 27
Laura-Hezner-Weg 7
8093 Zürich
SWITZERLAND
Telephone+41 44 633 28 71
E-mailfwittel@ethz.ch
DepartmentCivil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering
RelationshipLecturer

NumberTitleECTSHoursLecturers
101-0615-01LMaterials III Restricted registration - show details 4 credits4PR. J. Flatt, I. Burgert, P. Lura, H. Richner, F. Wittel
AbstractIntroduction into the basic and practical knowledge of important building materials and testing methods.
ObjectiveIntroduction into the basic and practical knowledge of important building materials and testing methods.
Contento Introduction of material testing equipment, with various examples of experiments on metals (tensile behaviour, hardness, bending and impact loading).
o Theoretical background and practical aspects of concrete technology: mixture design, casting and setting; determination of mechanical properties.
o Properties of bricks and mortar: individual materials and the composite brickwork. Parameters like strength, Young’s modulus, water absorption and thermal conductivity are determined.
o Understanding the characteristic properties of wood: anisotropy, hygroscopic behaviour, shrinkage and swelling, and effect of size on strength. Introduction to test-methods for wood and wood-products.
o Introduction into the basics of scanning electron microscopy: practical exercises with the Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM).
o Introduction to fundamentals of Finite Element Methods and their application in examples.
o Introduction to durability of building materials and building structures: assessment of potentials for detecting and locating corrosion of steel reinforcement in concrete.
Lecture notesFor each topic a script will be provided, that can be downloaded under www.ifb.ethz.ch/education
101-0617-00LMaterials IV Information 3 credits2GH. J. Herrmann, I. Burgert, R. J. Flatt, F. Wittel
AbstractThis lecture is focused on current issues of materials research from various fields. It provides an overview on various directions of research on civil engineering materials and is intended to simplify the further choice of courses.
ObjectiveBased on the bachelor courses „Materials I-III“, current, fundamental, and important issues of specific building materials are addressed. Next to aspects of material production, usage and properties, their interaction with the environment e.g. by durability and environmental impact are addressed. This course is intended to simplify the further selection of courses.
ContentThe lecture is segmented into 13 important problems, namely:
1. Materials, Structures, and Sustainability
2. Granular matter: (DEM)
3. Fracture mechanics and size effects in concrete
4. Cyclic failure of asphalt (Fatigue)
5. Mechanics and failure of fiber reinforces materials
6. Wood: from the tree to the beam (multi scale approaches)
7. Transport and degradation in porous building materials
8. Rheology
9. Plasticity
10. Foam (e.g. polymers)
11. Gluing and coating (surfaces)
12. Asbestos, nano particles and hazardous substances
13. Biomimetics in Constructions
Lecture notesdownload from www.ifb.ethz.ch/education
Literaturedownload from www.ifb.ethz.ch/education
Prerequisites / NoticeThe lecture will be given in english.
101-0639-01LScience and Engineering of Glass and Natural Stone in Construction Information 3 credits2GF. Wittel, T. Wangler
AbstractThe course offers an overview of relevant practical issues and present technological challenges for glass and natural stones in constructions. Students gain a good knowledge of the basics of glasses and natural stones, their potential as engineering materials and learn to apply them in the design of civil engineering constructions and to evaluate concepts.
ObjectiveGlass is increasingly used in constructions to ease the construction process, as functional insulation barrier, even for structural applications of impressive size. While everyone has experienced the innovation potential of glass in the last decade, products from natural stone suffer from an unjustified traditional image that often originates from a lack of understanding of the material and its combination with other materials. Culturally important structures often are made from natural stone and their conservation demands an understanding of their deterioration mechanisms, the concepts of which can be applied to other civil engineering materials. Designers and engineers need the knowledge to reconcile materials and system behavior with the entire processing, handling, integration and life time in mind.
In this module students are provided with a broad fundamental as well as practice-oriented education on glass and natural stone in civil engineering applications. Present and future construction and building concepts demand for such materials with optimized properties. Based on the fundamentals from the Bachelor course in materials by the end of this module, you should be able to:

-recognize and choose specific applications from the broad overview you were provided with,

-relate processing technologies to typical products and building applications and recognize (and explain typical damage related to wrong material choice or application,

-explain the nature of glassy and crystalline materials and interpret their physical behavior against this background,

-explain the major deterioration mechanisms in natural stone and how this relates to durability,

-analyze material combinations and appraise their application in future products as well as integration in existing constructions,

-summarize with appropriate guidance publications on a related topic in an oral presentation and short report.
ContentLecture 1: An introduction to science and engineering of glass and natural stone in construction (FW/TW)

Lecture 2: Glass chemistry including historical development of glass composition, use of raw materials, melts, chemical stability and corrosion. (FW)

Lecture 3: Geology and mineralogy of stones used in construction. Formation processes, chemistry, crystal structure. (TW)

Lecture 4: Microscopic models for glassy materials. Physics of vitrification. From microscopic physical models to thermodynamics, rheology and mechanics of glassy materials. (FW)

Lecture 5: Stone properties and behavior: microstructure, density, porosity, mechanical properties (TW)

Lecture 6: Glass physics: Optical properties (transmission, reflection, emission, refraction, polarization and birefringence, testing methods); Mechanical properties (density, thermal, mechanical, electric properties, glass testing) (FW)

Lecture 7: Stone properties and durability: transport, moisture and thermal cycling (TW)

Lecture 8: Forming and processing of glass: (plate and molded glass, drawing, slumping, profiling etc.; Processing: Cutting, mechanical processing, tempering, gluing, bending, laminating of glass Surface treatments: coating, sputtering, enameling, printing, etching, chemical pre-stressing.) (FW)

Lecture 9: Durability: Salt crystallization, freezing, biodeterioration (TW)

Lecture 10: Glass products for civil engineering applications: (Molded glasses, fiber glass, foam glass, plate glass); construction glass (insulation glass, structural glass, protective glass, intelligent glass, codes); (FW)

Lecture 11: Conservation: Consolidation, cleaning, and other treatments (TW).

Lecture 12: Glass in constructions. (modelling, application and regulation, typical damage in glass) (FW)

Lecture 13: Student presentations; exam questions (FW/TW)
Lecture notesWill be handed out in the lectures
LiteratureWerkstoffe II script (download via the IFB homepage). Rest will be handed out in the lectures
Prerequisites / NoticeWerkstoffe I/II of the bachelor studies or equivalent introductory materials lecture.