Effect of Porosity Distribution of Cement Paste on the Change in Splitting Tensile Strength because of Aggregate Incorporation

In this study, a finite element method simulation was performed by designing a porous cement paste and mortar models using glass spheres as fine aggregates to reproduce the splitting tensile test. A tensile simulation of the porous cement paste model was performed using the RVE model, which reflects the pore size distribution in a cement specimen to calculate the strength and elastic modulus with varying porosity. By inversely identifying the ideal elastic modulus and strength with 0％ porosity, they were derived as exponential functions with porosity as the variable. A finite element model of the cylindrical samples was designed to simulate the splitting tensile test. The strength of the mortar model was approximately 14％ lower than that of the cement, which was evaluated through the finite element analysis using the physical properties obtained from the cement specimen, and the experimental results could not be reproduced. However, when the cement was subjected to variations in its physical properties based on the porosity distribution, the strength of the mortar model was comparable to that of the cement, and the experimental results were reproduced.