Using Thermodynamics to Simulate Cement Paste Microstructure Development

Published

July 22, 2010

Author(s)

Jeffrey W. Bullard, Barbara Lothenbach, Paul E. Stutzman, Kenneth A. Snyder

Abstract

We couple equilibrium thermodynamic calculations to a 3D microstructure model to simulate microstructure development during hydration of portland cement paste. The model uses a collection of growth/dissolution rules to approximate a range of growth modes at material interfaces, including growth by weighted mean curvature and growth by random aggregation. The growth rules are formulated for each type of material interface to capture the kinds of cement paste microstructure changes that are typically observed experimentally by microscopy. We make quantitative comparisons between simulated and observed microstructures for two ordinary portland cements, including bulk phase analyses and two-point correlation functions for various phases. The method is also shown to provide accurate predictions of the heats of hydration and 28 d mortar cube compressive strengths. The method is an attractive alternative to the cement hydration and microstructure model CEMHYD3D because it has a better thermodynamic and kinetic basis and because it is transferable to other cementitious material systems.

Proceedings Title

Concrete Modeling CONMOD'10: Proceedings of the International RILEM Symposium

Issue

4

Conference Dates

June 22-25, 2010

Conference Location

Lausanne

Conference Title

CONMOD'10

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

cement hydration, building technology, computer modeling

Citation

Bullard, J. , Lothenbach, B. , Stutzman, P. and Snyder, K. (2010), Using Thermodynamics to Simulate Cement Paste Microstructure Development, Concrete Modeling CONMOD'10: Proceedings of the International RILEM Symposium, Lausanne, -1 (Accessed November 5, 2025)