Experimental and Numerical Analysis of the Concrete Maturation Process with Additive of Phase Change Materials

The article presents selected types of phase change materials (PCM) and their properties in terms of applications in various fields of science such as construction and concrete technology. The aim of the article is to present a comparative analysis between the results of the laboratory tests and numerical simulations. The analysis contains two types of PCM (powder and in liquid), which were dosed in a hybrid system to the concrete mix. The purpose of using PCM is to allow the technological barrier to be exceeded in hot and dry climate conditions, enabling the construction of non-cracking concrete structures. The paper presents a parametric analysis of the influence of various modeling elements on the obtained results. The procedure of generating and absorbing heat caused by the applied PCM was also implemented using user subroutine into finite element code (Abaqus/Standard). The numerically obtained results are consistent with the experimental results. The presented results demonstrate that the use of PCM improves the conditions of concrete maturation by reducing the average temperature of the mixture in its entire volume.