Computer simulation method for cement hydration and application

A computer simulation method for cement hydration with periodic boundary conditions is presented.According to the relative location between the cement grain and the simulation element,the number and locations of additional cement grains are determined to realize the periodic boundary conditions.The basic principle of the hydration simulation of a single cement grain is described and three parameters are introduced to quantify the interference effect between cement grains during the process of hydration.As an engineering application,a method for computing the degree of hydration is proposed based on the simulated microstructure of cement paste.The validity of the method is verified with the experimental results obtained from the literature.Finally,the influence of the water/cement ratio and temperature on the degree of hydration is analyzed in a quantitative manner.It is found that the degree of hydration increases with the increase of the water/cement ratio and/or temperature.