Christoph Mueller
Bio
Professor Dr Christoph Müller is currently one of the Managing Directors of VDZ Technology gGmbH and head of the Concrete Technology Department of the Research Institute of the Ce-ment Industry. He graduated as a civil engineer with specialisation in structural engineering at the Technical University RWTH Aachen in 1993. As Research Associate at the Institute of Building Materials Research of the RWTH Aachen (ibac), he focused on the use of industrial by-products (e.g. fly ash) as a concrete addition and construction waste as recycled aggregates for the pro-duction of concrete. In 2000, he finished his PhD in this subject. Since then, he is a scientist at the German Cement Association and at the Research Institute of the Cement Industry in Duessel-dorf. He is engaged in all fields of concrete technology, in particular, with the durability of concrete (e.g. steel corrosion, alkali-silica-reaction). In 2001, he was appointed as a Senior Scientist. In 2007, he became the Head of Concrete Technology Department. Since 2012, he is holding the post of Managing Director of VDZ Technology gGmbH. Currently, he is a member of the board of the German Committee for Structural Concrete (DAfStb), Berlin, as well as the chairman of CEN (Comité Européen de Normalisation) Technical Committee (TC) 104 „Concrete and related prod-ucts“. In December 2014, Dr Müller was appointed an honorary professor by the university Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) where he has been holding lectures for many years.
KeyNote
How standards support decarbonization and resource efficiency of cement and concrete in Europe
Abstract
In today's context characterized by the need to take better account of the durability of concrete structures on the one hand and global warming/resource efficiency on the other hand, the main committees of the concrete sector in Europe represented under the so-called Joint Chairmen Panel (JCP) have expressed a need to reconsider the durability requirements in concrete standards [1]. Until now, the durability design of concrete structures according to current EN 1992-1-1, EN 206, EN 13670 and EN 13369 uses a concept in which the performance is verified primarily with Deemed-to-Satisfy (DtS) rules (concrete composition, concrete cover) based on experience. JCP has expressed a need to amend the current concept to permit alternative verification by performance testing of concrete. The performance testing of concrete may also lead to new DtS for the designer and the concrete producer. A new concrete durability concept has been developed named Exposure Resistance Classes (ERC) system. The ERC-concept will create for the first time in concrete sector in Europe a link between feed-back from long term on-site experience, limit value for the definition of concrete mixes and modelling of concrete durability. The presentation will highlight the general benefits of the ERC system and the benefits along the value chain (producers of concrete constituents, designers, scientists, contractors, authorities, costumers and owners). On the basis of ERCs the CO2 performance and technical performance of concrete could be assessed at the same time. Advantage: Use of cement and concrete with the reduction of global warming (contribution to decarbonation) under the ERC concept is not going to jeopardize the durability of the concrete structure. Important requirement: The methods and models used map the behaviour of the concrete structures under real conditions with sufficient accuracy. The latter is under discussion and might be subject to some optimization.