Prevention of crack formation in massive concrete at an early age by cooling pipe system

Abstract

Cooling pipe system (CPS) in concrete arrays plays an important role to control the temperature changes in massive concrete such as dams, foundation bridges, etc. The application of CPS in massive concrete has also been studied by some researchers but only in positive qualities point of view of the CPS. The present study presents the results of an investigation of thermal behavior regarding crack formation due to the hydration heat in massive concrete structures. To reduce the thermal load and improve the reliability of protection against cracks in massive concrete, the temperature changes, particularly the tempera‑ture feld and thermal stress, in such concrete with the presence of CPS were simulated and calculated with the help of the advanced computer programs. In addition, both the temperature feld and the cracking index in the massive concrete with the CPS’s temperature of 15 °C were determined. As the results, the cracking index over time was greater than the allow‑able value of 1.5, which indicates that the risk of cracking did not occur when the CPS was applied in the massive concrete.