Quantitative solution of size and dosage of capsules for self-healing of cracks in cementitious composites

Abstract

Self-healing (SH) technology of cracking is becoming a promising solution to improve the durability of cement based composites. However, little formula are available in the literature on determining the size and dosage of the self-healing capsules. Supposed that SH capsules will be broken and activated when they met cracks, a theoretical solution is developed to calculate the appropriate length of SH capsules based on Buffon's needle model. Afterwards, a method to calculate the dosage of capsules was proposed in terms of stereological theory. The reliability of the above mentioned theoretical methods was verified by computer simulation. An experiment of self-healing in mortar was performed as well, by which the theoretical models were verified.