Numerical Simulation of Autogenous Shrinkage of Eco-Friendly Blended Portland Cements Using a Multi-Component Hydration Model

Fly ash and granulated blast-furnace slag, which are used as blends of Portland cement, are waste materials produced in electric and energy industry. Due to excellent durability, low heat of hydration, energy-saving, resource-conserving, and generally less expensive than ordinary Portland cement, blends Portland cements is used increasingly in construction industry. Both ecology benefit and economic benefit can be achieved by using blended Portland cement. Addition of blended components to cement, especially such as fly ash or silica fume, will lead to a densification of the microstructure. The autogenous shrinkage deformation will increase and the following autogenous shrinkage crack will do harm to durability of concrete structure. In this paper, based on the multi-component hydration model, a numerical program is built to predict autogenous shrinkage of ordinary Portland cement and blended Portland cement. The numerical program considers the influence of water to cement ratio, curing temperature, particle size distribution, cement mineral components on hydration process and autogenous shrinkage. The prediction result agrees well with experiment result.