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Title: Early-Age Temperature Developments in a High-Performance Concrete Viaduct

Author(s): Mohamed Lachemi, Michel Lessard, and Pierre-Claude Aitcin

Publication: Symposium Paper

Volume: 167

Issue:

Appears on pages(s): 149-174

Keywords: Bridges (structures); environments; finite element method; high-performance concretes; instruments; temperature; thermal gradient.

DOI: 10.14359/6285

Date: 3/1/1997

Abstract:
The amount of heat developed in any concrete structure due to cement hydration is of concern for two reasons. First, concrete sets at a much higher temperature than ambient so its strength can be quite different than that of standard specimens and it shrinks as it cools. Second, cooling is not done at the same rate in all parts of the structure resulting sometimes in thermal gradients large enough to cause cracking. This paper describes briefly some features of an ongoing study of the thermal behavior of high performance concrete and presents some results. It reports measurements of temperature induced by the heat of hydration in a high performance concrete viaduct built near Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The experimental results are compared with the results of a finite element analysis with regard to early-age temperature developments in a concrete structure. The results obtained numerically are in good agreement with the experimental results. Once the validity of the numerical model is established, it becomes a powerful research tool which can be used to study different aspects related to the thermal behavior of concrete structures.