Douglas de Lacey wrote:

ahem a contemporary of mine did a PhD on how concrete sets: I believe
his results had an impact on the industry.


If you want to know how concrete sets, ask a civil engineer. It was
an essential part of my education and training over 30 years ago, and,
I expect, of all civil engineers'.

Heck, even the Romans knew how it worked!

Try this link:
http://www.cement.org/tech/cct_concrete_prod.asp

Or do a Google search on "cement hydration".