A new methodology for determining thermal properties and modelling temperature development in hydrating concrete

Abstract

A method is described for determining both the rate of heat generation and the time-dependent thermal properties of concrete so that the temperature development in a concrete section can be modelled. The method uses measured temperature data from concrete prisms and involves fitting data from the sample prisms of concrete to a simple theoretical heat-flow model. It is intended to facilitate on-site tests of concrete mixes; the resulting data can be used in computer models to predict the stresses that can lead to early thermal cracking in large pours. The method is tested by using the thermal properties obtained from the model to predict the temperature versus time profile at a number of locations in a large rectangular block of concrete and comparing these predictions with measured temperatures from the block.