Numerical Simulation of Heat Evolution of Eco-Friendly Blended Portland Cements Using a Multi-Component Hydration Model

With the development of concrete industry, the necessity for utilizing waste materials and decreasing overall energy consumption is becoming increasingly obvious. Fly ash and granulated blast-furnace slag, which are used as blends of Portland cement, are waste materials produced in electric and energy industry, and concretes made with them can have properties similar to ones made with pure Portland cement at lower cost per unit volume. By using blended Portland cement, both ecology benefit and economic benefit can be achieved. Due to the pozzolanic reaction between calcium hydroxide and blended components, compared with ordinary Portland cement, hydration process of blended Portland cement is more complex. In this paper, based on a multi-component hydration model, a numerical model which can simulate heat evolution process of blended Portland cements is built. The influence of water to cement ratio, curing temperature, particle size distribution of cement paste and blended Portland material, and cement mineral components on heat evolution process is considered. The prediction result agrees well with experiment result.