Strategy on simulation of arbitrary-shaped cement grains in concrete

The shape of cement particles plays an important role in the hydration process due to surface dissolution and hardening process. Nevertheless, a spherical particle shape is normally assumed in conventional simulation systems, because of the inherent simplification in algorithm formulations and corresponding reduced computer time, however, at the cost of possibly biased simulation results. Recently, some reference cement was analyzed by X-ray micro-tomography. The results provide a real experimental database of this cement that yields valuable parameters for simulation of cement hydration. A shape analysis study was conducted with some simpler shape solutions, whereby the X-ray micro-tomography results served as a reference. Based on this analysis, a simulation strategy is proposed as a preferred approach to cement particle simulation. The generation of the densely packed microstructure of fresh cement paste in this study was conducted by using an advanced discrete element method (DEM).