Influence of mineral composition and structure of aggregates on thermal expansion of conventional and heat-resistant concretes
Abstract
Influence of mineral composition and structure of aggregates on thermal expansion of conventional and heat-resistant concretes
Incoming article date: 05.02.2021The work was carried out due to the fact that the regulatory documents used in the design of structures operating at elevated and high temperatures do not take into account the peculiarities of the mineral composition and structure of concrete aggregates. This is a disadvantage of these documents, since the mineral composition and structure of aggregates can differ significantly even for materials of the same name, which can significantly affect the thermal changes in concrete. Due to the impossibility of experimentally investigating all the variety of concretes based on aggregates of various mineral composition and structure, a computational and analytical study was carried out in the work on the basis of existing methods for the analytical determination of thermal changes in concretes and their components. On the basis of these methods, the effect on the thermal expansion of concretes of the presence and amount in the aggregates of the most expanding minerals (aragonite, calcite, quartz, cristobalite, potassium feldspars, pyroxenes) and glass, as well as the average size of crystals composing mineral fillers, has been calculated and investigated. Considered are heavy Portland cement concretes on aggregates of limestone, dolomite, granite, syenite, diorite, basalt, diabase, broken clay brick, chamotte and slags. Based on the calculations, it has been established that the values of the thermal change in the volume of concrete, determined according to the normative document SP 27.13330.2017, coincide with the calculated values only for certain combinations of the mineral composition and structure of aggregates in terms of crystal sizes. In other cases, the actual thermal expansion of concrete may be less and more than the values obtained according to SP 27.13330.2017. The regularities of the influence on the thermal expansion of concrete of the content of various minerals and the average size of the crystals of minerals in the aggregates are established.
Keywords: thermal expansion, conventional and heat-resistant concretes, aggregates, minerals, glass, the effect of the mineral composition and structure of aggregates