Influence of inclusion shapes on the effective linear elastic properties of hardened cement pastes

In most micromechanical models applied to cement pastes, particulate phases are modeled as spheres. However, experimental observations clearly show that certain of them are far from being spherical. The present work focuses on the effects of particle phase shapes on the effective isotropic linear elastic moduli of hardened cement pastes (HCP). An attempt to develop a more realistic micromechanical model is proposed by using spheroidal inclusions and including a novel morphological parameter. The latter is identified on the basis of experimental result issue for example from microtomographic images of Portland cement grains. With the help of the proposed model, the validity range of spherical particulate approximations is examined for both sound and leached pastes.