Modelling the microstructure of concrete with spherical grains

The modelling of the geometrical structure of a special kind of concrete is discussed. It is a matter of self-flowing refractory castables with spherical grains. The system of hard spheres is compared to several well-established models of spatial statistics and statistical physics as well as to a model used by concrete engineers. It turns out that the structure can be well described by the latter model and a further newly developed model, which is similar to a marked Gibbs process. The result is based on the comparison of common summary statistics like the pair correlation function and the spherical contact distribution function.