Tutorial - Blending OPC and GBFS along a reaction path


Description

Calculate the hydrates assemblage and pore water composition of the hydration of 100 g CEM-I with a water/cement ratio of 0.5 and at a temperature of 25°C when OPC is replace by GBFS up to 60%. The CEM I oxide composition is taken from the Lothenbach and Winnefeld (2006) (their table 1); the GBFS oxide composition from Adu-Amankwah et al. (2017). Calculations are done in the Ca-Si-Al/Fe-S-Mg-C-Na-K system.


You will learn to

Include a parametric study


Template - Hydrates_10_Blending_general


Depends on

Tutorial - Create Managed Project with Cement Module


Step 1 – Create the simulation from the template to blend materials

Go to Project Manager

Select the project in the bottom panel

Go to Templates tab in the top panel

Select the template “Hydrates_10_Blending_general”

Click the “Create new from template” button

The Metadata dialogue window opens.

Define the name of the simulation (Blending)

Click OK

The Project Manager is active again. 

Select the simulation (Blending) and click Select

Step 2 – Create the reaction path of blending

Go to Global Definitions

Go to Global Variables

Add a case

Give the case a name (BlendingGBFS)

Select the Parametric Mode

Click on Select Mode () icon


At the right side, the panel to define a parametric study is now visible (See Parametric Studies in online HPx manual). There are three panels:

    • Parameters
    • Values
    • Input Model


Select the Parameters panel

 

The first panel Parameters serves to select the variables included in the parametric study. It consists of all numerical variables in the global input table. Only selections at the third level are relevant.

Select Cement::Clinker::Amount

Select GBFS::Amount

Select the Values panel

In this panel, the method (to obtain different parameter values) and the options relevant to the method are available.


Select Vector in Method box (See Vector in online HPx manual)

In the Vector method, one defines the start and end point of the vector (or the start point and the increment), the number of increments, and the corresponding numerical values. The vectors with variable values are calculated equally between the start and end point


Set Number of Steps to 25

Set the starting and end point of:

       Cement::Clinker::Amount to, respectively 100 and 40

       GBFS::Amount  to, respectively 0 and 60

Select the Input Model panel

The third panel identifies the part of the code that needs to be executed with different parameter values. One option is to run the complete input file – PHREEQC will be restarted every time. Output files will be overwritten. A better way is to put the relevant code in a separate file.

Select Specific File

Select Modules from the drop down box Folder

Check Relative Path

Click …

Go to ModuleCementParametric Folder

Select Parametric_10_Hydrates.hps

Click Open

Step 3 – Set Model and Output Options

Go to the input table via the icon

Choose model 17-Ca Si Al/fe S Mg C Na K Cl in the Cement System group of the Cement Model tab

Go to the Output Tab

For details on the different input records - See ModuleCement_Output_01_General

Type "GBFS::Amount" in Cement::Figures::Lead$ in the Figures - General group

The record GBFS::Amount defines the output variable used for the X-axis in the plots. This can be one of the (numerical) variables in the global input table. If _null_, integer values corresponding to the reaction step will be used.

Type "GBFS [%]" in Cement::Figures::X::Title$

The record Cement::Figures::X::Title$ defines the label of the X-axis.

Run

Step 4 – Check Log and Plots

Go to the Graph Workspace

Available default plots are listed here. The Graph Workspace allows for editing the plots - See Graph Workspace in the online HPx manual. In this tutorial, we will illustrate how to make a stacked plot with volume fraction of the hydrates and of the major phases (hydrates, water, chemical shrinkage).

Select SolidsVolume in the list of figures.

A plot is generated

Right click  SolidsVolume and go to Values Transformation -> Y -> Fraction %

A plot is generated

Right click SolidsVolume and go to Graph Types -> Stacked - Filled Lines

The final plot is generated. Note that the remaining fraction (between the maximum plotted value and 100 %) represents chemical shrinkage.

Select Volumes in the list of figures.

A plot is generated

Right click Volumes and go to Graph Types -> Stacked - Filled Lines

A plot is generated

Click the Edit Graph Tool icon

A new plot is automatically generated every time something is changed in the Edit Graph Tool. If several changes have to be made, one can disable the automatic tool generation for this specific graph.

Click the Disabling Automatic Graph Update icon (icon change to )

In the Edit Curve Panel , deselect the unnecessary graphs as in the Figure below (Aggregates, Initial Volume Cement, Initial Volume Water, and Initial Volume)

Click the Update the plot icon

The plot shows the change in volume fractions of the hydrate, capillair pores, the gel pores and the chemical shrinkage as function of percentage of GBFS replacement.

END Blending OPC and GBFS along a reaction path