5 Sep 2024

Extending CEMHYD3D to Simulate Hydration of Portland Cement Pastes with High Volumes of Silica Fume

Abstract: Silica fume (SF) influences the hydration rate of Portland cement in differ-ent ways depending on the physical and chemical properties of the SF. This study reports the impact of SiO2 content (%), loss on ignition (%), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) specific surface area on the hydration re-action of SF-cement paste mixtures. This study used five types of SFs with varying SiO2 content, loss on ignition (%), and particle morphology. Five SFs were mixed with Class H oil well cement at each of two different re-placement levels (20% or 30% by mass), and the released heat of hydra-tion was measured using isothermal calorimetry. The results were used to improve the pozzolanic reaction simulation feature of the original Virtual Cement and Concrete Testing Laboratory software, which enabled the soft-ware to simulate a higher SF replacement ratio in a cement mixture with higher fidelity. Results showed that a silica fume’s SiO2 content (%), loss on ignition (%), and BET specific surface area significantly influence the heat release rate. The new simulation model agrees well with the measure-ments on all the pastes tested.

27 Jul 2021

Influence of High Volumes of Silica Fume on the Rheological Behavior of Oil Well Cement Pastes

Abstract: Specialized classes of concrete, such as ultra-high-performance concrete, use volumes of silica fume in concrete that are higher than those in conventional concrete, resulting in increased water demand and mixing difficulty. This study considered the effects of eight different silica fumes in three dosages (10%, 20%, 30%) with three w/b (0.20, 0.30, 0.45) on rheological behavior as characterized by the Herschel-Bulkley model. Results indicated that the specific source of silica fume used, in addition to dosage and w/b, had a significant effect on the rheological behavior. As such, all silica fumes cannot be treated as equivalent or be directly substituted one for another without modification of the mixture proportion. The rheology of cement pastes is significantly affected by the physical properties of silica fume more so than any chemical effects.