Simulation of Cement Hydration and Porous Structures by the Hydration-Pixel Probability Model

This research proposes a new pixel-based model called the hydration-pixel probability model which aims to simplify cement hydration as a probability problem.The hydration capacity of cement,the solution within pores,and the difiusion of solid particles are represented by three probability functions derived from experimental data obtained through electrical resistivity and hydration heat measurements.The principle of the model is relatively simple,and the parameters have clear physical meanings.In this research,the porous structures of difierent cement pastes with w/c ratios of 0.3,0.4,and 0.5 are investigated.The results indicate that the porosity of the cement paste decreases during the first few hours,followed by a rapid decline,and eventually reaches a steady state.The porosity of the paste decreases as w/c ratio decreases,and the rate of decrease is more rapid in the early stages.Referring to the porosity curves,the average degree of hydration and depth of hydration can be derived.The simulation results show that the hydration degree of paste composed of irregular particles is higher than that of the paste composed of round particles.The trend in the development of the average hydration depth is similar to that of the average hydration degree.Upon analyzing the average growth rate of the hydration depth,it is observed that there are two peaks in the curves,which correspond to the three characteristic points in the electrical resistivity test.

A Model for Temperature Infl uence on Concrete Hydration Exothermic Rate (Part one: Theory and Experiment)

Recent achievements in concrete hydration exothermic models based on Arrhenius equation have improved computation accuracy for mass concrete temperature field. But the properties of the activation energy and the gas constant （Ea/R） have not been well studied yet. From the latest experiments it is shown that Ea/R obviously changes with the hydration degree without fixed form. In this paper, the relationship between hydration degree and Ea/R is studied and a new hydration exothermic model is proposed. With those achievements, the mass concrete temperature field with arbitrary boundary condition can be calculated more precisely.

Early Age Hydration of Cement Paste Monitored with Ultrasonic Velocity and Numerical Simulation

Early age hydration of cement paste was investigated by monitoring the ultrasonic propagation velocity and simulated with the numerical model CEMHYD3D. The ultrasonic velocity of the P-wave was recorded during the first 24 hours of the hydration process and its evolution was analyzed. It is shown that the UPV method is an effective, accurate and non-destructive method for monitoring the early age hydration process of cement paste. The early age hydration process can be classified as four periods, which are the dormant period, acceleration period, deceleration period and stabilization period. Higher w/c ratios result in lower UPV, and delay initial setting time due to the decreased solid volume. The change of UPV is clearly related to the hydration degree of cement particles.

Variation in Polymerization Degree of C-A-S-H Gels and Its Role in Strength Development of Alkali-activated Slag Binders

To investigate the variation in the degree of polymerization calcium aluminium silicate hydrate(C-A-S-H)gel and its role in the evolution of the strength of waterglass slag binders,the compressive strength,hydration products,degree of hydration of the slag,and the degree of polymerization of C-A-S-H gels of binders were examined.The experimental results indicate that the pH of the pore solution increased with an increase in the Na_(2)O concentration.However,mortar with an optimum compressive strength value of 81.0 MPa at 28 d was obtained when water glass modulus was 1.5.The main hydration product is a C-A-S-H gel for which the quantity and the degree of polymerization depend strongly on the Na_(2)O concentration;for a given range,both increase with increasing Na_(2)O concentration,thus yielding an enhanced strength.A further increase in the Na_(2)O concentration continuously increases the quantity of C-A-S-H gels while drastically reducing the degree of polymerization.The positive effect of the former is counteracted by the adverse effect of the latter,ultimately,leading to a decreased strength.Furthermore,we reveal that the degree of polymerization for C-A-S-H gels may be affected by pH,through a series of complex chemical reactions.

Analysis of Hydration Mechanism and Microstructure of Composite Cementitious Materials for Filling Mining

To obtain the compositions and microstructure of hydration products of cementitious material in different hydration ages and its growth law of filling strength, the optimal proportion of composite cementitious material was determined according to the chemical composition of cement clinker which was composed of the Portland cement 32.5R, CSA 42.5 sulphoaluminate cement and two gypsum（CS）. The characterization of composite cementitious materials in different hydration ages was conducted by NMR, XRD and SEM techniques. The mechanism of hydration was explored. It is shown that the compressive strength of the test block increases gradually with the increase of hydration age. The microstructure of composite cementitious material can be changed from Al-O octahedron into Al-O tetrahedron in the hydration process. The hydrated alkali alumi niumsilicate formed with Si-O tetrahedron and Al-O tetrahedron. The degree of polymerization of Si-O tetrahedron gradually increased, and the structural strength of cementitious materials continued to increase. The diffraction peak of clinker minerals gradually decreased with the extension of hydration age. The CaSO4 completely hydrated to produce Aft during hydration which resulted in high early strength of cementitious material. The early hydration product of composite cementitious materials was Aft with a needle bar structure. The main middle and last hydration products were CSH gel and CH gel with dense prismatic shape. The microscopic pore of composite cementitious material gradually decreased and improved the later strength of filling block. The strong support was provided for mined-out area.

Evaluation Method and Mitigation Strategies for Shrinkage Cracking of Modern Concrete

The complex compositions and large shrinkage of concrete,as well as the strong constraints of the structures,often lead to prominent shrinkage cracking problems in modem concrete structures.This paper first introduces a multi-field(hydro-thermo-hygro-constraint)coupling model with the hydration degree of cementitious materials as the basic state parameter to estimate the shrinkage cracking risk of hardening concrete under coupling effects.Second,three new key technologies are illustrated:temperature rise inhibition,full-stage shrinkage compensation,and shrinkage reduction technologies.These technologies can efficiently reduce the thermal,autogenous,and drying shrinkages of concrete.There after,a design process based on the theoretical model and key technologies is proposed to control thecracking risk index below the threshold value.Finally,two engineering application examples are provided that demonstrate that concrete shrinkage cracking can be significantly mitigated by adopting the proposed methods and technologies.

Rate of pozzolanic reaction of two kinds of activated coal gangue

Two kinds of activated ways are used to prepare activated coal gangue fine powder, one is calcining coal gangue at 800℃ （gangue A）, and the other is calcining coal gangue with a certain calcite at 800℃ （gangue B）. The experiment shows that strengths of blended cement mortar with coal gangue B are higher than that of blended cement with coal gangue A. Hydration of cements with the two kinds of activated coal gangue is investigated through a differential thermal analysis. The weight loss due to Ca（OH）2 decomposition of hydration products by differential thermal analysis/thermo gravimetric （DTA/TG） can be used to quantify the pozzolanic reaction. A new method based on the composition of hydration cement is proposed to determine the degree of pozzolanic reaction. The results obtained suggest that the degree of pozzolanic reaction of gangue B is faster than that of gangue A.

THE INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE AND ADMIXTURES ON ACTIVATION OF LOW CALCIUM FLY ASH

According to composition and structure properties of low calcium fly ash, the activation and reaction degree of fly ash-lime and fly ash-lime-gypsum system were studied in different alkali surroundings and temperatures by thermal-gravity analysis. The degree of reaction and pore structure analysis test results show that composite alkali play an important role in the activation and degree of reaction of fly ash at I-oem temperature. But when increasing curing temperature, gypsum would play an important role in activation and hydration of fly ash.

Quantification of hydration products in cementitious materials incorporating silica nanoparticles

In the present work, silica nanoparticles （30-70nm） were supplemented into cement paste to study their influence on degree of hydration, porosity and formation of different type of calcium-silicate-hydrate （C-S-H） gel. As the hydration time proceeds, the degree of hydration reach to 76% in nano-modified cement paste whereas plain cement achieve up to 63% at 28 days. An influence of degree of hydration on the porosity was also determined. In plain cement paste, the capillary porosity at lhr is ~48%, whereas in silica nanoparticles added cement is -35 % only, it revealed that silica nanoparticles refines the pore structure due to accelerated hydration mechanism leading to denser microstructure. Similarly, increasing gel porosity reveals the formation of more C-S-H gel. Furthermore, C-S-H gel of different CaJSi ratio in hydrated cement paste was quantified using X-ray diffractometer and thermogravimetry. The results show that in presence of silica nanoparticles, -24% C-S-H （Ca/Si 〈 1.0） forms, leading to the formation ofpolymerised and compact C-S-H. In case of plain cement this type of C-S-H was completely absent at 28 days. These studies reveal that the hydration mechanism of the cement can be tuned with the incorporation of silica nanoparticles and thus, producing more durable cementitious materials.

Understanding the behavior of recycled aggregate concrete by using thermogravimetric analysis

The physio-chemical changes in concrete mixes due to different coarse aggregate(natural coarse aggregate and recycled coarse aggregate(RCA))and mix design methods(conventional method and Particle Packing Method(PPM))are studied using thermogravimetric analysis of the bydrated cement paste.A method is proposed to estimate the degree of hydration(a)from chemically bound water(WB).The PPM mix designed concrete mixes exhibit lower a.Recycled aggregate concrete(RAC)mixes exhibit higher and a after 7 d of curing,contrary to that after 28 and 90 d.The chemically bound water at infinite time(WBo)of RAC mixes are lower than the respective conventional concrete mixes.The lower WBo,Ca(OH)2 bound water,free Ca(OH)2 content and FT-IR analysis substantiate the use of pozzolanic cement in the parent concrete of RCA.The compressive strength of concrete and a cannot be correlated for concrete mixes with different aggregate type and mix design method as the present study confirms that the degree of hydration is not the only parameter which governs the macro-mechanical properties of concrete.In this regard,further study on the influence of interfacial transition zone,voids content and aggregate quality on macro-mechanical properties of concrete is needed.