Cement hydration reactions are exothermic in nature, so that in an insulated system, the heat released during hydration will result in a measurable temperature rise. In high performance concretes, due to the presence of silica fume and the generally higher cement contents, these temperature rises can result in serious thermal cracking problems [1]. The ability to predict the expected temperature increase would thus be useful to structural engineers and designers interested in producing a durable concrete structure.
One approach for achieving this goal is to prepare a trial mixture of the concrete of interest and monitor its temperature rise when hydrated under adiabatic conditions. Another approach is to use a computer model to predict this temperature rise behavior. This paper describes both approaches for a variety of concretes with and without silica fume additions. A three-dimensional microstructural model has been modified to predict the adiabatic response of a user specified concrete mixture. Input data for the model, such as kinetic constants, heats of reaction, and activation energies have been obtained from the literature or experiments employing the materials examined in this study.