Effect of natural pozzolan on strength and temperature distribution of heavyweight concrete at early ages

Abstract

The benefits of using mineral additive as a partial replacement for cement in heavyweight concrete are discussed. This paper presents the strength development and temperature distribution of concrete using Class F of natural pozzolan (PU) sourced from Northern part of Vietnam. Based on the results of conducted studies, strengths of the natural pozzolan concrete at different ages were generally lower than those of control concrete. The 7-day compressive strengths of concrete with 20% PU decreases mostly by 30.1% and least by 12.3% at the age of 28 days in comparison with control concrete. However, natural pozzolan increases the workability of fresh concrete up to 16.67% in comparison with control concrete. By using the computer program Midas Civil, the maximum temperatures at the center of concrete block with 100% cement and of concrete block with 80% cement + 20% PU are 65.7600C and 52.4400C, respectively, after 48 hours from the beginning of pouring. In addition, temperature difference between the central point and the environmental temperature of the control concrete are higher than heavyweight concrete using 20% PU. Meaningfully, the risk of through thermal cracking of heavyweight concrete without pozzolan are higher than heavyweight concrete PU to replace 20% of mass cement.