Water within pores of cementitious materials plays a crucial role in the damage processes of cement pastes, particularly in the binding material comprising calcium-silicate-hydrates (C-S-H). Here, we employed Grand Canonical Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the properties of water confined at ambient temperature within and between C-S-H nanoparticles or "grains" as a function of the relat...

In this paper, two types of sustainable cementitious composites, geopolymer and magnesium phosphate cement, are introduced. The geopolymer is a type of amorphous alumino-silicate products and magnesium cement is MgO based cementitious material. Geopolymer can be synthesized by polycondensation reaction of geopolymeric precursor, and alkali polysilicates. The MgO cement can be obtained by proper...

The objective of the current thesis is to apply atomistic simulation techniques to further the current knowledge of cementitious systems. Hydrated cement is a part of concrete which is one of the most widely used materials in the world. As such the production of cement is responsible for about 5-8% of global CO2 emissions. The optimization of the mechanical properties and durability of concrete...

As a vibration- free concrete, self- compacting concrete (SCC) can be easily used in the absence of consolidation, therefore; it is a good option for repairing and retrofitting concrete structures. The quality of repair layer is highly effective on a successful repair. Accordingly, in this study, factors affecting the quality of fiber-reinforced self-compacting concrete repair layer, including ...

The main purpose of the present study is to investigate the role of the material parameters such as permeability, thermal diffusivity, and pore size distribution on the mechanical behavior of cementitious structures submitted to frost action, such as surface scaling. An experimental device, in which a cement paste specimen is exposed to freezing-thawing cycles under a thermal gradient, has been...

This paper presents an experimental study on the microstructure and performance of stabilized earth bricks prepared from the Yellow River sediment. The sediment is modified by inorganic cementitious material, polymer bonding agent, and jute fibre. The results show that the sediment is preliminarily consolidated when the mixture ratio of activated sediment/cementitious binder/sand is 65/25/10. C...

Concrete is the second most-used material in the world and with its production comes the need for better quality control. The strength of concrete is heavily influenced by its moisture content when it is formulated, giving rise to a need for an accurate measurement of that moisture content. This work focuses on the dielectric properties of water between 10MHz and 4 GHz to obtain information abo...

Cementitious composite is one of the most widely used construction materials in the world because its abundant resources, strong adaptability and mature production process [1]. Despite cementitious matrices present good compression strength, they are brittle and usually break when suffer some strain caused by tensile effort. Aiming to overpass this problem some fibers can be used as reinforceme...