A unified solidification model of hardening concrete composite for predicting the young age behavior of concrete

The prediction of hardening young concrete behaviors is proposed using a solidification model based on the microphysical information of temperature, hydration ratio, porosity, saturation, isotherm and others. The solid model deals with cement paste as the solidified finite fictitious clusters having each creep property. Aggregates are idealized as suspended continuum media of perfect elasticity. The combination of both phases may create the overall features of concrete composite under the unstable transient conditions at early age. The micro-scale surface tension is treated as the driving force for the shrinkage associated with and without water migration. The solidification model is expected to offer the deformability of hardening concrete under the combined effect of external loads and the capillary stress estimated by the thermo-dynamic computation. Verification of the proposed model is conducted through comparison with some experimental data available in the literature. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.