Creative Representations of Research – Hamish Moodley
Concrete evidence is a (delicious) cake inspired by reinforced concrete.
This cake was created for the Festival of Doctoral Research held online from 7th-11th June 2021. In this competition they challenged postgraduate researchers to have fun exploring all the different ways in which they can represent and share the essence of their research. From dance to poetry to cake, the only limit was their creativity!
Corrosion of reinforcing bar is the greatest cause of deterioration of concrete structures. Therefore, I aim to demonstrate that stainless steel reinforcing bars can lead to more sustainable concrete structures than carbon steel. This is due to stainless steel having a much greater corrosion resistance than carbon steel. This higher corrosion resistance of stainless steel reinforcing bar can lead to more sustainable concrete structures with longer life spans.
The cake is split into two halves: The first half, contains rusted carbon steel (Flakes) reinforcing bars and is crumbling apart, represents how current building materials are unsustainable; The second half, containing the shiny stainless steel reinforcing bar (Twirls sprayed silver) and showing no decay, demonstrates how stainless steel reinforcing bar in concrete could lead to a more sustainable future.
Hamish is working with Dr Sheida Afshan on a Network Rail project Carbon accounting for bridges