Concrete Thermal Cracking Analysis with Cement Hydration Model and Equivalent Age Method

In concrete technology, thermal cracking is a cause of major concern. Thermal cracking in mass concrete is related to both the rate of heat evolution and strength development at any time which are dependent on the historical time and temperature conditions at the particular point in the structure. In this research, reaction heat of concrete was determined with a developed cement hydration model. With the equivalent age method, accurate description of the strength growth of C40 concrete was presented. Then the thermal cracking analysis was carried out by means of the finite element program ANSYS. The analysis results were compared with the experiment results obtained in real practice. A good agreement has been noticed. This research will afford reliable support to design, construction and management of mass concrete structures in theory and practice.