The expansion property of cement mortar under the attack of sulfate ions is studied by experimental and theoretical methods. First, cement mortars are fabricated with the ratio of water to cement of 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8. Secondly, the expansion of specimen immerged in sulphate solution is measured at different times. Thirdly, a theoretical model of expansion of cement mortar under sulphate erosion is suggested by virtue of represent volume element method. In this model, the damage evolution due to the interaction between delayed ettringite and cement mortar is taken into account. Finally, the numerical calculation is results indicate that the model perfectly describes performed. The numerical and experimental the expansion of the cement mortar.
Under dynamic loading, the constitutive relation of the cement mortar will be significantly affected by the transversal inertial effect of specimens with large diameters. In this paper, one-dimensional theoretical analysis is carried out to determine the transversal inertial effect on the relaxation/retardation time of the cement mortar under the harmonic wave. Relaxation time or retardation time is obtained by means of the wave velocity, attenuation coefficient and the frequency of the harmonic wave. Thus, the transversal inertial effect on the relaxation time from Maxwell model, as well as on retardation time from Voigt model is analyzed. The results show that the transversal inertial effect may lead to the increase of the relaxation time, but induce the decrease of the retardation time. Those should be taken into account when eliminating the transversal inertial effect in applications.
In the present study, the average modulus of delayed ettringite is evaluated by an experimental method combined with theoretical analysis. Firstly, the delayed ettringite crystal is synthesized by chemical reaction of Aluminum sulfate and calcium hydroxide. Secondly, specimens are obtained by compressing the delayed ettringite crystal under different pre-loads. Thirdly, the variation of the modulus of the specimen with different pre-loads is tested using Instron material test machine and the SHPB technique, respectively. It is found that the experimental data may be suitably fitted by Boltzmann Function. Finally, the porosity of the specimen is detected using the saturation method, and the effect of the porosity on the modulus is analyzed by the Eshelby's equivalent inclusion method and the Mori-Tanaka's scheme. The static and dynamic modulli of the equivalent homogeneous ettringite obtained in present study are approximately 10.64 GPa and 24.61 GPa, respectively.