Background and activities

Current research and teaching

Since 2014 I work as Professor at the Department of Structural Engineering, NTNU Trondheim. I am dividing my time between research and teaching.

In the autumn I teach Building Materials (TKT4240) to the 1st year Civil Engineering MSc students together with Prof. Tore Kvande. In spring I teach Concrete Structures I (TKT4175) to 3rd year Civil Engineering MSc students together with Prof. Jan Arve Øverli. In addition I contribute to the 4th year Concrete Technology I classes (TKT4215), Concrete Technology for Bridge (KT6004) as part of an experience based MSc program, as well as courses organized by the Norwegian Concrete Association.

Our research team is working on topics oriented towards cement hydration and concrete durability, with other words, concrete from cradle to grave.

Why do we need research on concrete? Cement is the glue of concrete. When it reacts with water it forms solid hydrates which glue the aggregates (stones) in the concrete together to form an artificial rock. The production of conventional Portland cement is associated with large amounts of CO2 emissions. One way of reducing these emissions is by replacing part of the Portland cement with supplementary materials such as limestone, fly ash  (by product of coal fired power plants), blast furnace slag (byproduct of iron production), or calcined clay. The resulting composite cements behave differently than the conventional Portland cements both in fresh concrete (e.g. flow, interaction with chemical admixtures etc.) and as a hardened material (e.g. durability and mechanical properties). Research is needed to understand the behavior of these composite cements and to give provide a basis to potentially adapt the practice, regulations and test methods.

Through collaboration with other departments at NTNU and SINTEF we have access to large variety of experimental facilities. For analysis of samples we use amongst others TGA, XRD, SEM, calorimetry, rheology, titration, and ICP-MS. For exposure of concrete we have together with SINTEF access to amongst others carbonation chambers, ASR reactors, spray chambers, frost cabinets.

Scientific, academic and artistic work

A selection of recent journal publications, artistic productions, books, including book and report excerpts. See all publications in the database

Journal publications