Mesoscopic model generation for different grades of concrete

Abstract

Concrete is a complex composite material with extremely complex behaviour. In macroscale, concrete is considered as homogeneous. But to derive exact macroscopic characteristics, properties of the individual components of concrete and their effects on the material behaviour must be considered as a heterogenous system, concrete can be modelled in two different scales, the microscale and the mesoscale. At the mesoscale it can be interpreted as a composite material made up of three phases: coarse aggregate, mortar, and interfacial transition zone (ITZ). Mortar is further separated into fine aggregate and cement paste at the microscopic level. Mesoscale analysis is thought to be a better choice due to its reduced computational requirements, and it has grown in popularity in research field. This conference paper mainly deals with the generation of mesoscopic models of concrete of different grades using parameterisation approach. Random aggregate structure with random polyhedral shaped aggregates and Fuller’s distribution curve is generated. Realistic concrete aggregates are created by sequentially slicing a cuboid to create a polyhedron with several faces when an aggregate size distribution is given. A hierarchic random sequential adsorption algorithm is used to assemble the generated aggregates into the mesostructure.