Experimental investigations on heat evolution during hydration of cementitious materials in concrete using adiabatic calorimetry

This paper describes the heat measurement on a number of concrete mixes having various binder compositions and compressive strengths. While the cement content was fixed at 400 kg/m3, the water to cement ratio was varied between 0.40 and 0.60 to assess the impact of this variation on the heat development. Further, keeping the total binder content at 400 kg/m3 and water to cementitious materials ratio at 0.50, the influence of Type C and F fly ash at 20 and 30% replacement levels on the heat evolution characteristics was also determined. These measurements were carried out using a locally developed adiabatic calorimeter. While the results were on the expected lines, the study clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of adiabatic calorimetry as a tool for selecting materials for mixture proportioning. Moreover, the relatively simple design of the calorimeter makes it a valuable addition to any laboratory for performing basic and applied investigations on concrete.