Modeling of hydration reactions to predict the properties of slag blended concrete

Abstract

The granulated blast furnace slag is commonly blended with Portland cement or clinker to produce slag blended cement after being ground to the fineness comparable to Portland cement. Hydration of slag-blended cement is much more complex than that of ordinary Portland cement because of the mutual interactions between the cement hydration and the slag reaction. In this paper, by considering the production of calcium hydroxide in cement hydration and its consumption in the reaction of slag, a numerical procedure is proposed to simulate the hydration of concrete containing slag. The numerical procedure includes two sub components, a cement hydration model and a slag reaction model. The heat evolution rate of slag concrete is determined from the contributions of the cement hydration and the slag reaction. Furthermore, the temperature history in hardening blended concrete is evaluated by combining the proposed numerical procedure with a finite element method. The proposed model is verified through experimental data on concrete with different water–cement ratios and mineral admixture substitution ratios.