Abstract:
Early age thermal cracking due to temperature differential is one of the major
issues related to mass concrete construction. Temperature differential is created due to heat
of hydration of cement and heat loss from the surface. If induced tensile stresses due to
temperature differential exceed tensile strength of concrete, concrete tends to crack. Current
practice in the local construction industry is to limit the temperature differential to 20ºC
irrespective of the grade of concrete. A Finite Element Model (FEM) was developed using
ANSYS to predict early age thermal stress behavior. Appropriate position of thermocouples
to measure the temperature differential in mass concrete was also proposed based on a
thermal analysis using FEM. Limiting values for the temperature differential were
proposed based on analytical methods to minimize the risk of thermal cracking.
