Under the auspices of the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center for Advanced Cement-Based Materials (ACBM), an education module has been developed to demonstrate the principles of computational materials science applied to cement-based materials. Based on computer exercises originally developed for the computer modelling workshop, supported by ACBM, that has been held annually since 1990 in the Building Materials Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the module consists of this documentation and computer software covering the topics of microstructure development during cement hydration, simulation of mercury intrusion porosimetry, and the application of percolation theory to material microstructure. The computer software is PC- based, interactive, and graphics-oriented. Both DOS and Macintosh-compatible versions of the program have been completed and are available for distribution. To date, portions of the module have been incorporated into a number of undergraduate and graduate- level classes in civil engineering and materials science departments at several universities throughout the United States. The goal of the module is to demonstrate how microstructure can be simulated, quantified, and its relationship to properties analyzed, so that students will obtain a greater appreciation of cement-based materials as systems whose properties can be engineered.
This NIST Technical Note provides the documentation necessary for using the ACBM/NIST Education Module. Following a brief introduction to the computational materials science of cement-based materials, background information and detailed example computer exercise descriptions are provided for each technical area covered by the module. A separate appendix details the usage of the programs on a Macintosh-based system and provide a sample feedback survey form.
The DOS compatible versions of the software require a personal computer with EGA or higher graphics. An 80386 or faster processor-based machine is recommended for executing the programs. The computer programs and executable files are available for downloading.