DuCoS : Materials Durability and Structural Eco-Design Platform (Nantes)

The DuCos platform in Nantes enables the manufacture and study of civil engineering materials and structures at different scales: microstructure, material and structure. It brings together the main “standard” analytical equipment, as well as innovative devices and custom-built setups, in particular for studying the coupled effects arising from combined physico-chemical and mechanical loading at both material and structural scales.

The platform’s equipment makes it possible to characterise natural geomaterials (soils, rocks) and artificial ones (cementitious and alkali-activated materials), to qualify eco-materials using a broad performance-based approach – covering service properties, instantaneous and time-dependent mechanical behaviour (shrinkage, creep) and durability – and to advance the eco-design of structures.

Centrale Nantes, bât. J

Scientific lead:
Pr. E. Rozière

TSTM Test Rig – Temperature-Stress Testing Machine

Micro-indentation

Deformation of materials under combined mechanical and physico-chemical loading

Fields of application:
Construction materials: soils, rocks, concretes
Building and public works – Civil engineering
Low-carbon energy production and storage: nuclear, marine renewable energy, hydrogen
Climate change mitigation and adaptation for buildings, cities and regions
Eco-design of structures, composite/multi-material structures