Estimation of specific surface area of particles based on size distribution curve

Abstract

Workability in the fresh state is one of the most important factors in design and production of concrete and can be related to the water demand of the mixture, which in addition to other factors is a function of the particle shape of aggregates and binders and their specific surface area. While it is known that the shape of fine particles has a significant effect on the water demand, there are uncertainties regarding how the various shape parameters would affect the specific surface area, mainly because up to now many of the shape parameters have not yet been clearly defined and there are no commonly accepted methods for their measurement and/or estimation. In this research, the actual particle shapes were replaced with regular convex polyhedrons to calculate the total specific surface area using the size distribution curves of the samples. The obtained results indicate that while, in some cases, the assumption of a spherical particle shape leads to an acceptable estimation of the specific surface area when compared with Blaine test results, the specific surface area of powders with more angular particles could be calculated more accurately with the assumption of a polyhedron shape rather than a sphere.