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Microstructural Development of Hydrating Portland Cement Paste at Early Ages Investigated with Non-destructive Methods and Numerical Simulation

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Abstract

Microstructure development of hydrating cement paste at early ages is not only an indicator of the reactivity of cement, but also a factor on the workability of fresh concrete. In this study, the microstructure development of hydrating cement paste at early ages is investigated with non-destructive methods including ultrasound P-wave propagation velocity measurement and non-contact electric resistivity tests, together with conventional needle penetration depth and calorimetry tests. The hydration process and microstructural development of the cement paste is modeled with the three-dimensional computer model CEMHYD3D. Evolution of microstructural parameters including the volumetric fraction of phases and their percolation status are analyzed by using the results of the numerical simulation. Microstructural mechanisms of the two non-destructive techniques (ultrasound pulse propagation and electric resistivity measurements) are discussed. The main findings of this study are that the velocity of ultrasound P-wave propagation in hydrating cement paste is a function of the propagation routes in the material and inter-particle forces. The electric resistivity is controlled by the ionic concentrations in the pore solution during the early hours and later by the connectivity of pores. A model for the development of ultrasound P-wave propagation velocity is also proposed.

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Acknowledgement

This research is financially supported by the National Basic Research Program (973) of China (Project 2009CB623200) and the Youth Chenguang Project of Science and Technology of Wuhan (project 201150431086).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, Luoshi Road 122, Wuhan, 430070, P.R. China

    Wei Chen & Zhonghe Shui

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Luoshi Road 122, Wuhan, 430070, P.R. China

    Wei Chen & Peiliang Shen

  3. Wuhan Real Estate Development & Investment Group Co., Ltd, Xinhua Road 25, Wuhan, 430022, P.R. China

    Yuan Li

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  1. Wei Chen
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Correspondence to Wei Chen.

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Chen, W., Li, Y., Shen, P. et al. Microstructural Development of Hydrating Portland Cement Paste at Early Ages Investigated with Non-destructive Methods and Numerical Simulation. J Nondestruct Eval 32, 228–237 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-013-0175-y

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