Postdoctoral researcher wins Roger Owen Prize for best thesis

Dr Evžen Korec, a postdoctoral researcher in the Mechanics of Materials Lab led by Professor Emilio Martinez-Paneda, was recently awarded the 2024 Roger Owen Prize by the UK Association for Computational Mechanics (UKACM).

This annual award recognises the best PhD thesis in the broad area of computational mechanics in the UK. Dr Korec’s PhD thesis, Phase-field-based chemo-mechanical modelling of corrosion-induced cracking in reinforced concrete, will now compete for the prize of the best European PhD thesis in computational mechanics. Dr Korec developed his doctoral work under the supervision of Prof Emilio Martínez-Pañeda, first at Imperial College London and then in Oxford, following Professor Martinez-Paneda’s move.

Dr Korec’s doctoral work led to the development of a new class of chemo-mechanical models capable of unravelling concrete corrosion. These models were able to related the variability of the chemical composition of the rust with the applied corrosion rate and in this way explain why accelerated corrosion tests underestimate corrosion damage in concrete-reinforced structures under natural conditions – a longstanding, elusive goal for concrete durability scientists.

This work opens the door to quantitative predictions of the corrosion of steel in concrete under natural conditions, a phenomenon responsible for 70-90% of the premature deterioration of reinforced concrete structures and most catastrophic failures. Dr Korec’s postdoctoral work builds upon his PhD thesis and aims at using the concrete cracking models develop to optimise concrete crushing, as part of a project to help rebuild Ukraine.