Professor Will Hansen's Research Group

Prof. Will Hansen


Director, Pavement Research Center of Excellence

Professor & FACI
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

2350 Hayward, 2330 GG Brown
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2125 (Map it!)
Office: 2324 GG Brown
Phone: (734) 763-9660
Email: whansen@umich.edu

Professional Experience

  • 2004-Present: Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan.
  • 1989-2004: Associate Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan.
  • 1990-1991:Professor of Building Materials, Institute of Building Technology and Structural Engineering, Aalborg University, Denmark.
  • 1983-1989: Assistant Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan.
  • 1982-1983:Lecturer, University of Michigan.

Research Interests:

Dr. Hansen's research interests include mechanistic studies of concrete materials in infrastructure applications, early age properties of concrete, curling-warping of pavements, sustainable cementitious blends, and new materials for repair of concrete, and creep and shrinkage analysis of ageing materials, mitigating durability problems.

Honors and Awards:

  • ACI Fellow, (FACI) 2003
  • ASCE-CEE Teacher of the Year, 1996/97.
  • CEE Department Research Award 1995/96.
  • First Recipient of the Masuda International Foundation Fellowship, Kobe University, Japan, 1989.
  • Chi-Epsilon, University of Michigan, 1988 UM teaching and research awards.

Current Courses:

  • CEE 211 Statics & Dynamics.
  • CEE 351 Civil Engineering Materials.
  • CEE 547 Soil Engineering & Pavement.

Shrinkage and creep behavior in cementitious system



  • Autogenous shrinkage vs. degree of hydration (0.35 w/c)


    • Autogenous shrinkage is a result of the microstructure evolution of cement paste which is driven by cement hydration.




  • Investigation on key properties controlling early-age stress development of blended cement concrete (Ivindra Pane and Will Hansen)



    • The measured properties, especially the aging and viscoelastic ones, have been modeled mathematically. The proposed viscoelastic models have been shown to satisfy the thermodynamic requirement.




  • Constitutive Model for Predicting Ultimate Drying Shrinkage of Concrete (Will Hansen)



    • A model was derived from the theory of elasticity for predicting ultmate drying shrinakge of concrete. The usefulness of this model was greatly extended by including the semiempirical composite model for concrete derived by Hirsch and Dougill.




  • Unified Shrinkage Model for Concrete from Autogenous Shrinkage Test on Paste with and without Ground-Granulated Blast-Furnace Slag (Ya Wei, Will Hansen, Joseph Biernacki, Erik Schlangen)



    • The overall driving force for autogenous shrinkage is self-desiccation (reduction in pore RH) within the PHPs from sealed hydration. The self-desiccation effect is w/cm and time-dependent and explains why autogenous shrinkage is pronounced in low-w/cm (less than 0.40) systems. The data presented in this study show that autogenous shrinkage development in hydrating paste is uniquely related to the reduction in pore humidity, and approximately independent of w/cm (0.35 to 0.45).


    Cryogenic suction: the major mechanism for salt frost scaling



  • Isothermal freezing strain (0.45 w/c concrete with 5.1% air)


    • The isothermal dilation at -10°C and -20°C obtained by a high-sensitive low temperature dilatometry (LTD) confirms the cryogenic suction effect in an air-entrained concrete exposed to a 3% salt solution.




  • Paste swelling (0.45 w/c concrete with 5.1% air)


    • The whole paste is lifted up around the coarse aggregate particles, indicating extensive stress build-up beneath the surface region.




  • Capillary suction (0.45 w/c concrete with 5.1% air)


    • Water uptake vs. the square root of time shows a linear progression and a well-defined knee point, indicating a transition from capillary suction to slow diffusion into air voids.




  • Scaling rate vs. sorptivity


    • A strong correlation is found between salt scaling rate and sorptivity, a measure of capillary suction rate.


    Hydration characteristics in cementitious system



  • Hydration heat development with additon of slag


    • Hydration heat is suppresed initially upon the addition of slag due to its less reactivity.However, it catches up in the case of 33% and 50% cases during the later period due to its gradual pozzolanic reaction.


    Rheological properties in cementitious system



  • Effect of superplasticizer on rheology of cement paste at high temp.


    • Torque is reduced substantially with the addition of SP (See video clicks below for initial flowablility with and without adding SP).

    0.45w/c Paste without SP at 40 C

    0.45w/c Paste with SP at 40 C



    Current Students

    Zhichao Liu (2009.09-present)

    Zhichao Liu (lzc@umich.edu) is a PhD candidate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His research is focused on the mechanism of frost deterioration, esp. in the presence of de-icer salts, in cementitious materials and its mitigation strategies. Zhichao received his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering (2002.09-2006.06) and M.S. in Construction Materials (2006.09-2009.06) from Wuhan University of Technology, China.


    Bo Meng (2014.01-present)

    Bo Meng (mengbo@umich.edu) is a PhD applicant in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His research is now focused on concrete creep and shrinkage. Bo received his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Tongji University, China (2008.09-2012.06) and M.S. in Civil Engineering from University of Michigan (2012.09-2013.12).




    Former Students

    • Youngjae Kang   PhD, 2010, FEA Product Engineer in Caelynx, Ann Arobr, Mi
    • Ya Wei  Ph.D, 2008, Assistant Professor at Dept. of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University
    • Yanfei Peng  Ph.D, 2005, Senior Researcher at United States Gypsum
    • Elin Jensen  Ph.D, 2002, Assistant Professor at Dept. of Civil Engineering, Lawrence Technological University, MI
    • Ivindra Pane  Ph.D, 2001, Department of Civil Engineering, Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia

    Selected Publications

    Referred Journals:


    1. Wei, Y, Hansen, W. "Early-age Strain-stress Relationship and Cracking Behavior of Slag Cement Mixtures subject to Constant Uniaxial Restraint". Construction and Building Materials. 49(2013): 635-642. [PDF]
    2. Wei, Y, Hansen, W. "Characterizing Cracking Potential of Cementitious Mixtures Based on Shrinkage and Humidity Drop Rate". ACI Materials Journal. 110(2013): 433-440. [PDF]
    3. Wei, Y, Hansen, W. "Tensile Creep Behavior of Concrete Subject to Constant Restraint at Very Early Ages", Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, 2013, 25(9): 1277-1284. [PDF]
    4. Wei, Y, Hansen, W. Biernacki, JJ, Schlangen, E. "Unified Shrinkage Model for Concrete from Autogenous Shrinkage Test on Paste with and without Ground-Granulated Blast-Furnace Slag". ACI Materials Journal. 108(2011): 13-20. [PDF]
    5. Wei, Y, Hansen, W. "Characterization of Moisture Transport and Its Effect on Deformations in Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement". Transportation Research Board. 2240(2011): 9-15. [PDF]
    6. Ivindra Pane, Will Hansen. "Investigation of blended cement hydration by isothermal calorimetry and thermal analysi". Cement and Concrete Research. 35(2005): 1155 - 1164. [PDF]
    7. Ivindra Pane, Will Hansen. "Predictions and verifications of early-age stress development in hydrating blended cement concrete". Cement and Concrete Research. 38(2008): 1315-1324. [PDF]
    8. Ivindra Pane, Will Hansen. "Investigation on key properties controlling early-age stress development of blended cement concrete". Cement and Concrete Research. 38(2008): 1325-1335. [PDF]
    9. Will Hansen. "Constitutive Model for Predicting Ultimate Drying Shrinkage of Concrete". Journal of the American Ceramic Society. 70(1987): 329-332.[PDF]
    10. Will Hansen. "Drying Shrinkage Mechanisms in Portland Cement Paste". Journal of the American Ceramic Society. 70(1987): 323-328.[PDF]


    Conference Proceedings:

    1. Will Hansen, Zhichao Liu, Eduard A.B. Koenders. "Viscoelastic Stress Modeling in Cementitious Materials Using Constant Viscoelastic Hydration Modulus". 1st International Conference on Ageing of Materials and Structures (AMS 2014), Delft, the Netherlands,May 2014.
    2. Zhichao Liu, Will Hansen, Bo Meng. "Salt Frost Scaling of High Strength Concrete". 1st International Conference on Ageing of Materials and Structures (AMS 2014), Delft, the Netherlands,May 2014.
    3. Will Hansen, Eduard A.B. Koenders, Zhichao Liu. "Rheology and hydration of cementitous slurries". ASME 2014 33rd International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE2014), June 8-13, San Francisco, California, USA, 2014.
    4. Zhichao Liu, Youngjae Kang, Will Hansen. "Cyogenic suction pump: a major mechanism of salt frost deterioration". "Understanding the Fundamental Properties of Concrete" Workshop in celebrating Prof. Erik J. Sellvold on his 75th birthday, Trondheim, Norway,April 2013.
    5. Liu,Zhichao, Kang, Youngjae ,Hansen, Will, Borgnakke, Claus. "Cryogenic Suction-A Major Salt Scaling Mechanism in Highway Concrete". 10th International Conference on Concrete Pavements,Québec City, Québec, Canada, July 2012.
    6. Hansen, Will; Wei, Ya; Schlangen, Erik. "Moisture warping in jointed plain concrete pavements". 9th International Conference on Concrete Pavements: The Golden Gate to Tomorrow's Concrete Pavements, v 1, p 258-266, 2008.
    7. Wei, Ya ; Hansen, Will. "Pre-soaked lightweight fine aggregates as additives for internal curing in concrete". ACI Special Publication, n 256 SP, p 34-43, 2008.
    8. Peng, Yanfei; Hansen, Will; Smiley, David L.; Jensen, Elin A.. "Prediction of top-down transverse cracking in jointed plain concrete pavement". 8th International Conference on Concrete Pavements: Innovations for Concrete Pavement: Technology Transfer for the Next Generation, v 3, p 1342-1358, 2005


    Poster Presentation:

    1. Will Hansen, Claus Borgnakke, Youngjae Kang, Joseph Biernacki. "Multi-Scale Kinetics-Based Model for Predicting Mechanical Property Development of Concrete containing Supplementary Cementitious Materials". "NSF CMMI Engineering and Innovation Conference 2009", Honolulu, Hawaii, June 2009. [PDF]


    Research Reports:

    1. Will Hansen (PI), Zhichao Liu (GSRA), "Improved Performance of JPCP Overlays". MDOT RC-1574, July 2013, 44 pp. [PDF]
    2. Will Hansen (PI), Youngjae Kang (GSRA), "Durability Study of the US-23 Aggregate Test Road and Recent JPCP Projects with Premature Joint Deterioration", MDOT RC-1534, December 2010, 38 pp. [PDF]
    3. David Smiley, Will Hansen "Investigation of Early Cracking on Selected JPCP Projectss", MDOT RC-1501, December 2007, 98 pp. [PDF]
    4. Will Hansen (PI), Elin Jensen (GSRA)"Transverse Crack Propagation of JPCP as Related to PCC Toughness ", MDOT RC-1404, August 2001, 92 pp. [PDF]
    5. Will Hansen (PI), Phil Mohr (GSRA), Rachel Detwiler "Cause of Concrete Pier Cap Deterioration on the I-75 Bridge over River Rouge (B01 of 82194) in Detroit and Effectiveness of Repair Methods", MDOT RC-1346, September 1996, 38 pp. [PDF]

    Durability

  • Low temperature dilatometry (LTD).

  • Freeze-thaw machine.

  • Automatic air void system analyzer.

    • Shrinakge and Creep

  • Autogenous Shrinkage Test system.

  • Creep frame.

  • Temperature Stress Testing Machine (TSTM).

    • Other instruments