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Upscaling semi-adiabatic measurements for simulating temperature evolution of mass concrete structures

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Abstract

Thermal analysis of mass concrete is often carried out through finite element (FE) analysis. The heat release rate in a material point can be determined from a small-scale isothermal calorimeter. Nonetheless, isothermal calorimeter is generally an expensive device and lacks practicality. In that light, this paper proposes a low-cost semi-adiabatic calorimeter setup complemented with a FE analysis. Such a combination provides evolution of hydration heat under isothermal temperature and enables upscaling to the temperature evolution in mass concrete structures. The upscaling process is demonstrated on three mass concrete blocks. Initially, semi-adiabatic measurements start on 14 dm3 concrete cube to identify the heat release rate. Next, the calibrated hydration model is upscaled and validated on a 1.0 m3 concrete cube and two mass concrete foundation blocks with 511 and 1,050 m3. The validation proves successfully the upscaling approach; also, the same temperature-dependent hydration kinetics performs well from small to large scales.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the project "Support for improving teams in research and development and the development of intersectoral mobility at Czech Technical University in Prague" OP VK CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0034, which allowed for funding of Dr. da Silva’s postdoctoral research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanics, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Thákurova, 7, 166 29, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Wilson Ricardo Leal da Silva & Vít Šmilauer

  2. Department of Concrete and Masonry Structures, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Thákurova, 7, 166 29, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Petr Štemberk

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  1. Wilson Ricardo Leal da Silva
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  2. Vít Šmilauer
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  3. Petr Štemberk
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Correspondence to Wilson Ricardo Leal da Silva.

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da Silva, W.R.L., Šmilauer, V. & Štemberk, P. Upscaling semi-adiabatic measurements for simulating temperature evolution of mass concrete structures. Mater Struct 48, 1031–1041 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-013-0213-3

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