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7. Future Research
Future research will focus on the incorporation of silica fume and other
supplementary cementitious materials into the cement hydration and
microstructure development program and the development of additional modules
to attempt to model the induction period of the hydration process. For the
former, in the case of silica fume, information is already available in the
literature on the heat released due to the pozzolanic reaction
[51]
as well as its expected additional chemical shrinkage
[52].
For the latter, since the surface areas of all phases exposed to water are
known, it should be possible to specify dissolution rates and model the rise of
ionic concentrations over time. Then, the induction period can proceed
until some critical event, such as reaching a certain level of supersaturation
with respect to calcium hydroxide precipitation, occurs, at which point
control can be transferred over to the existing cement hydration module for
modelling of the post-induction hydration process.