Establishing the curing procedure for precast RC members by early age simulations

Author(s): Egemen Kesler, Gözde Kurt, Olcay Ural and Yilmaz Akkaya
Paper category: Proceedings of the International RILEM Conference Materials, Systems and Structures in Civil Engineering 2016 Segment on Fresh Concrete
Editor(s): Lars N. Thrane, Claus Pade, Oldrich Svec and Nicolas Roussel
ISBN: 978-2-35158-184-1
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-185-8
Publisher: RILEM Publications SARL
Publication year: 2016
Pages: 96-105
Total Pages: 10
Language : English

Abstract: Temperature development as a result of cement hydration causes thermal deformations and stresses at early ages, especially on precast concrete elements on which accelerated curing is applied. The inner and outer temperature differences may occur depending on the dimensions of the precast members. Besides material and mixture design preferences, these temperature differentials also depend on the placement and curing conditions, and eventually may lead to thermal stresses and cracking at early ages. This thermal type of early age cracks usually go through the cross section and adversely affect the durability of concrete and service life of the structure. Therefore, it is important to define proper handling and curing conditions to control thermal cracking risk in precast segment production. In this research, 60cm thick precast segment elements were produced and the temperature developments were measured. The measured temperature history was then compared with the results calculated by a finite element based simulation software. Effects of formwork removal time, curing time and transfer time to stock area were also investigated by the simulation program. It has been seen that the simulation program, supported with observations and measured test results from the full scale trials, can be used as an important tool to plan the production, train the personnel involved and control the problems related to early age cracking of the segments.

Online publication : 2016
Publication type : full_text
Public price (Euros) : 0.00