To increase the packing density of blended cement paste, a gap-graded particle size distribution (PSD) was theoretically deduced and modified according to the wet density of actual paste. Then experiments were conducted to validate the hypothesis of improvement of the properties of blended cements by the gap-graded PSDs proposed. The experimental results show that the gap-graded PSD resulted in a decreased water requirement and an increased packing density of blended cement paste, and modified gap-graded PSDs gave further effects. The heat of hydration of gap-graded blended cement pastes released slowly in the first 24 h and increased rapidly afterward. The microstructure of gap-graded blended cements was much more homogeneous and denser than that of reference blended cement, therefore both early and late mechanical properties of low clinker gap-graded blended cements were improved significantly and even higher than those of Portland cement. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.