Located within the School of Civil Engineering in Ciudad Real, Spain, the Solid Mechanics Group has been an official part of the University of Castilla-La Mancha since 2002.

Our core emphasis is on applying Solid Mechanics to delve into the mechanical attributes of materials crucial to civil engineering, spotlighting aspects like fracture and fatigue failure. Our approach involves a harmonious blend of practical experimental work in our state-of-the-art labs complemented by comprehensive theoretical and numerical studies. Professor Gonzalo Ruiz López provides visionary leadership to our group.

Having its roots in the nascent days of the School of Civil Engineering, our team is comprised of members from globally acclaimed research bodies. A notable mention is Prof. Ruiz, who undertook his PhD at the Department of Materials Science of UPM, under the mentorship of Professors Manuel Elices and Jaime Planas. We’re also closely associated with the Computational Solid Mechanics Group at the California Institute of Technology, directed by Prof. Miguel Ortiz (PhD advisor of Dr. Rena C. Yu). Overseeing our experimental endeavors is Dr. Xiaoxin Zhang, recognized for his expertise in high-speed deformation testing, hailing from Harbin Engineering University.

Our legacy is also echoed by our accomplished alumni. Many of our past graduate students have now risen to faculty positions at either UCLM or UPM (Polytechnic University of Madrid). The distinguished roster includes Elisa Poveda Bautista (UCLM), Jacinto R. Carmona, Manuel Tarifa, Luis Saucedo, Pedro Navas, Lucía Garijo, and José Joaquín Ortega, all of whom are now affiliated with UPM.

Current Members (UCLM)

Research lines

Line 1: Applications of Basic Research:

This line of inquiry aims to identify the applications of basic research and formulate them into design criteria, as there is a noticeable disconnect between the advancements made by researchers in our field of knowledge and actual construction practice. Within this scope, we have conducted several studies with significant technological implications:

• Studies on the size effect in reinforced concrete structures.
• Crack propagation in reinforced concrete: minimum flexural and shear reinforcement.
• Sensitivity to strain rate and impact resistance.
• Experimental and numerical study on the fatigue resistance of fiber-reinforced concretes.

Line 2: Numerical modelling using FEM or meshfee methods

• Development of constitutive equations.
• Optimization and variational methods.
• Modeling of micro-cracking processes using cohesive models.
• Fracture processes in structural concrete.

Line 3: Durability Mechanics

This focuses on the study of micromechanical damage caused by the degradation processes that affect materials of interest in civil engineering, particularly concrete. We approach this line of research with the following framework of Damage Reproduction. The objective is to recreate in the laboratory or numerically the damage observed in real structures. This involves:

• Inducing similar damage in laboratory specimens and/or extracting damaged samples directly from the structure.
• Mechanical testing of the damaged samples.
• Theoretical study of damage coupling in the constitutive equations.
• Numerical modeling.

Line 4: New Construction Materials, Sustainability

• Fiber-reinforced self-compacting concretes (new performance-based design methods).
• Compressed Earth Blocks (CEBs) for sustainable construction with low carbon emission content.
• Use of composite materials in civil engineering, for both new constructions and the repair and maintenance of older structures.
• Advanced mechanical characterization of materials relevant to historical heritage (lime mortars, rammed earth, etc.).

Technology transfer

we offer to the interested private or public entities the following expertise.

Applications of Fracture Mechanics to Structural Concrete:

• Determining the shear resistance of beams without transverse reinforcement.
• Determining the buckling resistance of slender panels.
• Analyzing the ductility or brittleness of elements with minimum reinforcement ratios.
• Analyzing the limit strengths of prestressed elements.

Dynamic Behavior of Structural Concrete Elements:

• Failure of structural elements under dynamic conditions (up to impact).

Design of Fiber-Reinforced Self-Compacting Concretes and Other High-Performance Concretes.

Computational Fracture Mechanics:

• Analysis of failure and degradation processes in structural concrete. Application of models on three levels: theoretical, analytical, and numerical. Analysis of cracking processes induced by the corrosion of reinforcements.

Mechanics of Materials Relevant to Civil Engineering:

• Determination of mechanical properties (compression strength, tensile strength, fracture energy, fatigue resistance, etc.), especially in concrete and steel. The influence of composition on mechanical properties and special performances (creep, shrinkage, ductility, etc.). Properties in fracture. Properties under dynamic regimes.