Papers by Author: Ki Bong Park

Abstract: 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.

Abstract: Recently, Reinforced Concrete(RC) is used in most buildings. However, steel bars in concrete cause corrosion through carbonation. Furthermore, corrosion shortens the life span of RC structures. Therefore, the surface-finishes such as restraint for penetration and diffusion of CO2 were used to lengthen the life span of RC structures. This study attempted to verify the restraining effect on a carbonation job according to the applied surface-finishes using an FEM analysis. This study also evaluated the restraining effect of carbonation on other surface-finishes with the process proposed in this study.

Abstract: It is well known that PC (polycarboxylate) agent is superior to other agents for the early-strength of concrete. Thus, this study investigates the development of mortar strength using various agents. To prove this, various factors were tested. Furthermore, this study measured compressive strength at the age of 18, 24, 36, 72, and 168 hours and gave a request text TG/DTA to observe minute structures. In addition, this study took pictures of minute structures using an SEM for each agent at the same age. According to the results, mortar using an early-strength PC agents is faster than a general water reducing AE agent, high performance PC agents, and other agents in the acceleration of hydration at the same early age. A TG/DTA test shows that the early-strength PC agents create more hydration products, such as Ca(OH)2, than others at the same age. The degree of pH in each agent is unrelated to the degree of hydration in mortar. An MIP analysis confirms these results. However, other methods are required the exact analysis of micro structures.

Abstract: This paper describes a numerical method for estimating the elastic modulus of cement paste. The cement paste is modeled as a unit cell, which consists of three parts: dehydrated cement grain, gel, and capillary pore. In the unit cell, the volume fractions of the constituents are quantified with a single kinetic function of the degree of hydration. The elastic modulus of cement paste was calculated from the total displacement of constituents when the uniform pressure was applied to the gel contact area in cement paste assumed a homogenous isotropic matrix. Numerical simulations were conducted through the finite element analysis of the three-dimensional periodic unit cell. The model predictions were compared with experimental results. The predicted trends agree with experimental observations. The approach and some of the results might also be relevant for other technical applications.