Tricalcium silicate modeling and numerical simulations

2010

International audience; In order to identify and quantify what is modified when tricalcium silicate hydration rate varies, we have developed a model to simulate experimental evolution of reaction advancement versus time. It is experimentally observed that the hydrates formation consists of a primary heterogeneous C-S-H nucleation leading to the formation of clusters followed by the anisotropic growth of these clusters. In our model, C-S-H nucleation is described by a random distribution of clusters on a surface. We split the growth step into two processes corresponding to the clusters growth on the surface (parallel growth) and the increase of the cluster thickness (perpendicular growth). E…