Virtual Testing of Cement and Concrete-USA 2004.
Virtual Testing of Cement and Concrete-USA 2004.
(211 K)
Garboczi, E. J.; Bullard, J. W.; Bentz, D. P.
Concrete International, Vol. 26, No. 12, 33-37,
December 2004.
Keywords:
cements; concretes; color; virtual testing
Abstract:
A unique, multi-phase, random, complex, and composite
material, concrete provides both strength and
impermeability to engineered structures. Unlike most
construction materials, the properties of concrete
continue to develop over time and in place -- assisting
processing and fabrication. Testing and quality
assurance, however, become more complicated. For
instance, having to wait 28 days to ensure performance
compliance is a unique, but not necessarily an
attractive, feature of concrete. Computer models today
attempt to reduce the length of this waiting period
through the prediction of cement and concrete properties
by means of virtual testing. Based upon a detailed
characterization of starting materials, such models
predict a variety of properties of both fresh and
hardening concrete. Successful prediction of properties
with virtual testing will result in tremendous time and
cost savings to the cement and concrete industry, and
will play an important role in enabling the use of
performance specifications. Virtual testing will also
support the capability to rapidly perform a large number
of "what-if" type computations to explore and optimize
new material systems.
