Digital-Image-Based Computer Modeling and Visualization of Cement-Based Materials.
Digital-Image-Based Computer Modeling and Visualization
of Cement-Based Materials.
(520 K)
Bentz, D. P.; Garboczi, E. J.
Emerging Technologies in Geotechnical Engineering.
Transportation Research Record No. 1526. Soils,
Geology, and Foundations. Proceedings. Transportation
Research Board. Proceedings. January 1996, National
Academy Press, Washington, DC, 129-134 pp, 1996.
Keywords:
building technology; cement-based materials; computer
models; diffusivity; digital images; interfacial
transition zone; microstructure; visualization
Abstract:
Over the past several years, digital-image-based
computer models and subsequent visualization of
microstructure have proven valuable in studying
processing-mirostructure-property relationships in
cement-based materials. This paper reviews the computer
modeling techniques used to simulate the microstructure
of hydrating cement paste at the micrometer level and
the microstructure of concrete and mortar at the
millimeter level. In the former case,
digital-image-based models using cellular automata offer
many advantages in simulating the reactions occurring
during the hydration of cement paste. In the latter
case, a continuum hard core-soft shell percolation model
appears to be most efficient for modeling the aggregates
in a mortar or concrete, each surrounded by an
interfacial transition zone (ITZ). Here, digitization
is employed to compute the volume fractions occupied by
aggregate, bulk cement paste, and ITZ cement paste. The
influence of microstructure on the diffusivity of these
materials is addressed within the overall framework of
this multiscale modeling approach.
