Microstructural aspects of cement hydration - ultrasonic waves and numerical simulation

In this paper, an ultrasonic shear wave reflection method was adopted to mimic the microstructural evolution of hydrating Portland cement pastes with different water/cement-ratios (0.35, 0.5 and 0.6) cured under a constant temperature of 25°C. The reflection coefficient measured with this technique was correlated to microstructural parameters of the cement pastes. The appli- cation of numerical simulation has shown that the ultrasonic wave reflection technique can be used to efficiently monitor the microstructural evolution of cementitious materials.