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Research area 02

Micromechanics, homogenisation, composites and TPMS

From particles, pores and cracks at the microscale to the effective properties of construction materials: highly filled composites, pervious concrete, brittle materials and TPMS architectures.

37 publications36 papers1 book2009⁠–⁠20268 with publications4 listed on staff profiles2 projects

Overview

This area uses the tools of materials mechanics – homogenisation, discrete elements, phase fields, molecular dynamics – to explain and predict the behaviour of a material from its internal structure. Results have appeared in Composites Part B, the International Journal of Solids and Structures, the Journal of Rheology and the Journal of Applied Mechanics [4, 28, 31, 37].

Main research themes

Highly filled composites and suspensions

The rheology of non-colloidal particle suspensions in yield-stress fluids was studied experimentally and theoretically: at the same solid volume fraction, the elastic modulus and yield stress of bidisperse suspensions are lower than those of monodisperse ones [2, 3, 4]. Micromechanical models that account for packing and particle size, and the morphological representative pattern (MRP) approach, predict the effective stiffness of polydisperse highly filled composites [28, 37].

Pervious concrete

Flexural and compressive failure of pervious concrete is simulated with phase-field models on random microstructures, calibrated by tests [26, 34]. The Kozeny–Carman permeability equation was adapted to pervious cement concrete by combining analysis with artificial intelligence [27, 32]. In 2026 an analytical micromechanical model, phase-field simulation and symbolic regression were compared on the same new set of tests [33].

Discrete elements for fracture of brittle materials and composites

Discrete element models were developed for brittle failure in tension and compression, for crack propagation and for damage in composites and dry fabrics [11, 16, 17]. 3D models simulate interface debonding in a fragmentation test and crack growth in concrete beams [14, 23].

2D materials, porous materials and TPMS

Molecular dynamics combined with micromechanics gives the elastic properties of graphene with void defects and the effective stiffness of 2D materials containing nanovoids [20, 21]. Numerical simulation, checked by tests on PLA specimens, showed that UHPC with a sheet-gyroid architecture has the least anisotropy among the TPMS lattices considered [31].

Projects and books

A Nafosted project on delamination and cracking in composites with 3D discrete elements (2018⁠–⁠2019) and a ministry-level project on predictive models of the mechanical behaviour of pervious cement concrete combined with artificial intelligence (2023⁠–⁠2024) belong directly to this area.

Textbook and book catalogue →

Research projects (2)

Project titles as on the staff profiles (Vietnamese).

  • Principal investigator (2023⁠–⁠2024). Nghiên cứu xây dựng mô hình dự báo ứng xử cơ học của bê tông xi măng rỗng dựa trên tiếp cận lý thuyết kết hợp kỹ thuật trí tuệ nhân tạo và định hướng dữ liệu. Code: B2023-XDA-03. Ministry-level project, Ministry of Education and Training (đã nghiệm thu)
  • Principal investigator (2018⁠–⁠2019). Mô hình hóa sự phân tách lớp, sự xuất hiện và phát triển của vết nứt trong vật liệu composite sử dụng mô hình 3D trong phương pháp phần tử rời rạc. Nafosted

Textbooks and books (1)

Directions of development

The directions below are those shown by the papers of 2023⁠–⁠2026, the projects and the research interests stated on staff profiles; this page states no plans or funding.

  1. Packing-informed micromechanical models

    Papers of 2026 bring packing and grading into stiffness predictions for highly filled composites and into an explicit formula for the packing density of aggregate gradations [35, 37].

  2. Phase-field models for pervious concrete

    A two-variable phase-field model for pervious concrete in compression and a neural-network-powered phase-field model for brittle composites are the latest steps of the fracture work [30, 34].

  3. Metamaterials and TPMS architectures

    Staff profiles list metamaterials, triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) architectures and mechanical lattices as research interests, following the 2024 paper on UHPC–TPMS interpenetrating phase composites [31].

People in this area

With publications in this area (8)

Staff who list this area on their profile (4)

Current staff who list this area on their profile; the same group appears when the people page is filtered by area and on the area cards.

Publications in this area (37)

Every journal paper, conference paper, book chapter and book classified into this area, newest first. Members of the group in bold, * corresponding author; titles in their original language.

2026

  1. [37]Bao-Viet Tran, Thai-Son Vu*, Xavier Chateau (2026). Packing- and particle-size-informed micromechanical prediction of the effective stiffness of highly filled particulate composites. Composites Part B: Engineering, 329, 114257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2026.114257
  2. [36]Vu Thai Son, Sengaloun Keoalounxay, Nguyen Ngoc Tuyen, Tran Viet Hung (2026). Predicting the relative shear storage modulus of highly filled bidisperse particulate suspensions by machine learning and constrained symbolic regression. Journal of Science and Technology in Civil Engineering (JSTCE) - HUCE, 20(3), 127-146. https://doi.org/10.31814/stce.huce2026-20(3)-07
  3. [35]Thai-Son Vu, Sengaloun Keoalounxay, Quoc-Bao Nguyen* (2026). An Explicit Formula for the Dry Packing Density of Aggregate Gradations Derived from the de Larrard Compressible Packing Model by Symbolic Regression. Eng, 7(9), 493. https://doi.org/10.3390/eng7090493
  4. [34]Nguyễn Văn Hưng, Trần Bảo Việt, Vũ Thái Sơn, Nguyễn Hoàng Quân, Tạ Quốc Việt (2026). Phân tích ứng xử chịu nén của vật liệu bê tông rỗng dựa trên mô hình trường pha hai biến và nghiên cứu thực nghiệm. Tạp chí Khoa học Giao thông Vận tải, 77(6), 842-856. https://doi.org/10.47869/tcsj.77.6.7
  5. [33]Van-Hung Nguyen, Hoang-Quan Nguyen, Bao-Viet Tran, Thai-Son Vu, Gun-Cheol Lee, Viet-Hung Vu (2026). Experimental and numerical validations of predictive models for compressive strength of pervious concrete. Journal of Science and Transport Technology (JSTT) - UTT, 6(3), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.58845/jstt.utt.2026.en.6.3.1-20

2024

  1. [32]Ba-Anh Le*, Thai-Son Vu, Hoang-Quan Nguyen, Viet-Hung Vu (2024). A Genetic Programming-Assisted Analytical Formula for Predicting the Permeability of Pervious Concrete. Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, 14(3), 14775-14780. https://doi.org/10.48084/etasr.7619
  2. [31]Ba-Anh Le, Bao-Viet Tran, Thai-Son Vu*, Quoc-Bao Nguyen, Hoang-Quan Nguyen, Xavier Chateau* (2024). Anisotropy and Mechanical Characteristics of Ultra-High Performance Concrete and Its Interpenetrating Phase Composite With Triply Periodic Minimal Surface Architectures. Journal of Applied Mechanics, 91(9), 091008. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4065901
  3. [30]Hoang-Quan Nguyen, Ba-Anh Le*, Bao-Viet Tran, Thai-Son Vu, Thi-Loan Bui (2024). Deep artificial neural network-powered phase field model for predicting damage characteristic in brittle composite under varying configurations. Machine Learning: Science and Technology, 5, 025062. https://doi.org/10.1088/2632-2153/ad52e8
  4. [29]Ba-Anh Le, Bao-Viet Tran*, Thai-Son Vu, Viet-Hung Vu, Van-Hung Nguyen (2024). Predicting the Compressive Strength of Pervious Cement Concrete based on Fast Genetic Programming Method. Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering, 49(4), 5487–5504. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-023-08396-2

2023

  1. [28]Thai-Son Vu, Bao-Viet Tran*, Hoang-Quan Nguyen, Xavier Chateau (2023). A refined Morphological Representative Pattern approach to the behavior of polydisperse highly-filled inclusion–matrix composites. International Journal of Solids and Structures, 270, 112253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2023.112253

2022

  1. [27]Lê Bá Anh, Vũ Thái Sơn, Nguyễn Văn Hưng, Nguyễn Thị Hương Giang, Trần Bảo Việt (2022). Kết hợp phát triển giải tích và kỹ thuật trí tuệ nhân tạo để xây dựng phương trình thấm Kozeny-Carman cho vật liệu bê tông xi măng rỗng. Hội nghị Cơ học toàn quốc lần thứ XI, Tập 2, 470-476.
  2. [26]Hoang-Quan Nguyen, Bao-Viet Tran*, Thai-Son Vu (2022). Numerical approach to predict the flexural damage behavior of pervious concrete. Case Studies in Construction Materials, 16, e00946. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cscm.2022.e00946
  3. [25]Ba-Anh Le, Viet-Hung Vu, Soo-Yeon Seo, Bao-Viet Tran*, Tuan Nguyen-Sy, Minh-Cuong Le, Thai-Son Vu (2022). Predicting the Compressive Strength and the Effective Porosity of Pervious Concrete Using Machine Learning Methods. KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering, 26, 4664–4679. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-022-1918-z
  4. [24]Vũ Thái Sơn, Vũ Việt Hưng, Nguyễn Tuấn Cường, Trương Đình Thảo Anh, Trần Bảo Việt (2022). Xây dựng công thức dự báo hệ số thấm của bê tông rỗng dựa trên định hướng dữ liệu. Tạp chí Khoa học Giao thông Vận tải, 73(2), 176-188. https://doi.org/10.47869/tcsj.73.2.7

2021

  1. [23]Le, B. D., Dau, F.*, Pham, D. H., & Tran, T. D. (2021). Discrete element modeling of interface debonding behavior in composite material: Application to a fragmentation test. Composite Structures, 272, 114170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2021.114170
  2. [22]Doan, T., Le-Quang, H., & To, Q. D.* (2021). Effect of void shape and highly conducting boundary on 2D conductivity of porous materials. Archive of Applied Mechanics, 91(11), 4539–4552. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00419-021-02014-z

2020

  1. [21]Doan, T., Le-Quang, H., & To, Q. D. (2020). Coupled molecular dynamics and micromechanics study of planar elastic properties of graphene with void defects. Mechanics of Materials, 147, 103450.
  2. [20]Doan, T., Le-Quang, H., & To, Q. D. (2020). Effective elastic stiffness of 2D materials containing nanovoids of arbitrary shape. International Journal of Engineering Science, 150, 103234.

2018

  1. [19]B.D. Le, T.D. Tran (2018). A efficient way to model the fracture behavior of concrete by Discrete Element Method in 3D. Proceedings of International Conference on the 55th anniversary of establishment of Vietnam institute for building science and technology, ISBN: 978−604−82−2586−5, page: 103-109/Nhà xuất bản Xây dựng
  2. [18]B.D. Le, M.H. Ha, B.D. Nguyen (2018). Cracks growth modeling techniques in composite material using 3D Discrete Element Method. Proceedings of International Conference on the 55th anniversary of establishment of Vietnam institute for building science and technology, ISBN: 978−604−82−2586−5, page: 103-109/Nhà xuất bản Xây dựng

2016

  1. [17]G. Koval, B.D. Le, C. Chazallon (2016). Discrete element model for brittle rupture under tensile and compressive loading. International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics
  2. [16]B. D. Le, G. Koval, C. Chazallon (2016). Discrete element model for crack propagation in brittle materials, International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics
  3. [15]Vu, T. S., (2016). Effect of coarse particles on the yield stress of cement paste: A modified micromechanical approach. Proc., The 7th International Conference of Asian Concrete Federation “SUSTAINABLE CONCRETE FOR NOW AND THE FUTURE” Hanoi, Vietnam
  4. [14]B.D. Le, X.N. Ho (2016). Modeling damages and cracks growth in concrete beam using a 3D Discrete Element Method. International Conference on Sustainability in Civil Engineering, Hanoi, Vietnam

2015

  1. [13]I. Iordanoff, J.L. Charles, F. Dau, D. André, A. Goupil, I. Terreros, M. Jebahi, J. Girardot, B.D. Le (2015). Mesoscopic scale simulation for high speed loadings use of Discrete Element Method (DEM) . GDR ACO-Chocolas : workshop “materials under dynamic loadings”, Paris, Février
  2. [12]B.D. Le, F. Dau, J.L. Charles, I. Iordanoff (2015). Modeling damages and cracks growth in composite with a 3D discrete element method. IV International Conference on Particle-based Methods - Fundamentals and Applications, Barcelona, Spain

2014

  1. [11]F. Dau, L. Mahéo, B. D. Le and J. Girardot (2014). A promising way to model damage in composite and dry fabrics using a Discrete Element Method (DEM). ASTM D30, Composite materials, San Diego (CA), USA

2013

  1. [10] B. D. Le, G. Koval, C. Chazallon (2013). Discrete element approach in brittle fracture mechanics. Engineering Computations
  2. [9]B. D. Le, G. Koval, C. Chazallon (2013). Discrete element model for brittle fracture. III International Conference on Particle-based Methods - Fundamentals and Applications, Stuttgart, Germany

2012

  1. [8]Nguyễn Trâm, Trần Quốc Ca (2012). Kết cấu composites. NXB Xây dựng.
  2. [7]B. D. Le, G. Koval, C. Chazallon (2012). Modélisation discrète en mécanique de la rupture des matériaux fragiles. XXXeme Rencontres AUGC-IBPSA, Chambéry, Savoie

2011

  1. [6]B. D. Le, G. Koval, C. Chazallon (2011). A discrete element approach in fracture mechanics of brittle materials. II International Conference on Particle-based Methods - Fundamentals and Applications, Barcelona, Spain
  2. [5]B. D. Le, G. Koval, C. Chazallon (2011). Modélisation discrète en mécanique de la rupture. 20eme Congrès Français de Mécanique, Besan

2010

  1. [4]Vu, T.S., Ovarlez, G. and Chateau, X. (2010). Macroscopic behavior of bidisperse suspensions of noncolloidal particles in yield stress fluids. Journal of Rheology - J. Rheol, 54(4), 815-833. https://doi.org/10.1122/1.3439731
  2. [3]Vu, T.S., Ovarlez, G. and Chateau, X. (2010). Rheology of bidisperse suspensions of noncolloidal particles in yield stress fluids. 6th Annual European Rheology Conference, Göteborg, Sweden

2009

  1. [2]Vu, T.S., Ovarlez, G. and Chateau, X. (2009). Comportement rhéologique de suspensions polydisperses de particules dans des fluides à seuil. Le 44ème colloque annuel du Groupe Français de Rhéologie
  2. [1]Vu, T.S., Mahaut, F., Ovarlez, G. and Chateau, X. (2009). Influence de l'ajout particules sur la valeur du seuil de contrainte d'une pâte : approches micromécanique et expérimentale. XXVIIèmes Rencontres AUGC 2009 - France

How the list was made: every publication on the profiles of current and retired lecturers was assigned to one or more of the 8 areas from its title and venue; a publication can appear in several areas.