Xiao (Shawn) Sun Email and Phone Number

Project: Constructing concrete pavements with recycled materials to increase sustainabilitySponsored by Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, USA.• Prepared the concrete cylinder samples with recycled rubber and glass• Tested the compressive strength of the concrete samples using Material Testing System• Collected and analyzed the data to evaluate the advantage and disadvantagesProject: Investigating the freeze-thaw damage mechanism of concrete materials to prevent cracking and increase durability (part of M.S. thesis work)Sponsored by National Science Foundation, USA.• Conducted X-ray tomography scan on cement mortar samples to capture the microcracks• Conducted quasi-elastic neutron scattering on the cement paste samples to study the water transport• Analyzed the data and microstructure images to explain the mechanism of freeze-thaw damagesProject: Applying internal curing technique to concrete structures to mitigate water related durability problems (part of M.S. thesis work)• Prepared internally cured concrete cylinder samples with pre-saturated, lightweight aggregates• Prepared thin section samples and investigated interfacial transition zone microstructures using a scanning electron microscope• Simulated the water transport process and estimated the permeabilityProject: Investigating the alkali-silica reaction (ASR) of concrete materials to prevent cracking and increase durability • Prepared cement mortar samples using recycled glass according to ASTM accelerate ASR procedure. • Conducted X-ray tomography scan on cement mortar samples to characterize the ASR crack microstructure. • Conducted small angle neutron scattering on the same cement mortar samples to study the surface and particle microstructure.

Project: Controlling the thermal cracking of massive concrete gravity damsSponsored by National Natural Science Foundation of China, Project No. 50539010• Worked as a team member and developed the preprocessor of a patented software which aims to estimate the temperature gradient within a concrete gravity dam and design a thermal cracking control strategy to prevent cracking of massive concrete blocks• Worked as a construction site technician in Tao Cha Head Channel Dam of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project in China for six months (co-op) to collect and analyze thermal sensor data in order to evaluate the effectiveness of proposed cracking control method