Relative Compression Strength Evolution of Silica-Fume Ultrahigh-Performance Concrete under Saturated Adiabatic Hydration Using Virtual Tests

Abstract

This investigation introduces the formulation of a new closed-form representation of the evolution of the relative compressive strength of a class of ultrahigh-performance concrete (UHPC) materials hydrated under saturated and adiabatic conditions. The Laplace transformation of the governing differential equation for the maturity leads to an accurate estimation of the sample equivalent age at the reference temperature. The maturity allows the estimation of the relative strength attained by means of a simple, previously experimentally verified, linear hyperbolic model expressed in the frame of the reference temperature. The evolution of the relative strength at the reference temperature provides a universal frame for the description of that evolution in samples hydrating under saturated and adiabatic conditions but starting at different temperatures. All required model parameters are identified through virtual tests. Parametric studies on the relative compressive strength evolution and their comparison with other semiempirical models in the literature revealed that the saturated and adiabatic hydration of low water-to-binder ratio silica-fume UHPC follows a proper version of the law of mass action in chemistry.