Modeling of hydration kinetics in cement based materials considering the effects of curing temperature and applied pressure

Portland cement is the most widely used cement in the world. In the industrial by-products suitable for use as mineral admixtures in Portland concrete are ashes produced from the combustion of coal and granulated slag in metal industries. However, comparing such ashes with Portland cement, determining the hydration of this concrete is much more complex because of the reaction between calcium hydroxide and fly ash or slag. In this paper, the production of calcium hydroxide in cement hydration and its consumption in the reaction of mineral admixtures are considered in order to develop a numerical model for simulating the hydration of concrete, which contains fly ash or slag. The proposed numerical model includes the effects of water to binder ratios, slag or fly ash replacement ratios, curing temperature, and applied pressure. The heat evolution rate of fly ash- or slag-blended concrete is determined by the contribution of both cement hydration and the reaction of mineral admixtures. Furthermore, an adiabatic temperature rise in hardened blended concrete is evaluated based on the degree of hydration of the cement and mineral admixtures. The proposed model is verified through experimental data obtained from the concrete with different water-to-cement ratios and mineral admixture substitution ratios at elevated temperature and high pressure.