Prediction of cement physical properties by virtual testing

Assuring the quality of the massive quantities of cement produced worldwide each year is a daunting task. Currently, the cement industry performs extensive physical testing to assess the quality of their product, resulting in large costs for both materials (and their disposal) and labor. One of the major goals of the Virtual Cement and Concrete Testing Laboratory (VCCTL) consortium is to provide the technology to reduce the number of necessary physical tests. In this paper, the ability of the VCCTL to successfully predict a wide variety of cement paste physical properties is demonstrated. Predicted physical properties are compared to experimental measurements for degree of hydration, heat of hydration, chemical shrinkage, setting times, compressive strength development, and pore solution concentrations. When the starting materials are characterized in detail, good agreement is exhibited between VCCTL model predictions and experimental measurements, highlighting the potential for this virtual technology to ultimately save the cement industry both time and money.