Heat of Hydration Models for Cementitious Materials

The objective of this paper is to present the formulation of a general hydration model for cementitious materials. The degree of hydration characterizes the formation of hydration products as hydration progresses over time, and each concrete mixture has a unique degree of hydration development. Semi-adiabatic calorimeter tests were performed during this study, providing a convenient, indirect means of characterizing the formation of hydration products by measuring the heat released during hydration. The heat of hydration of concrete under different curing temperatures can be characterized with knowledge of the temperature sensitivity (activation energy), the degree of hydration development at the reference temperature, and the total heat of hydration of the mixture. The proposed hydration model incorporates the effect of following variables: cement chemical composition, cement fineness, supplementary cementing materials (Class F fly ash, Class C fly ash, and ground-granulated blast-furnace (GGBF) slag cement), mixture proportions, and concrete properties (density, thermal conductivity, and specific heat). [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]