Analysis of Cracking Caused by Hydration Heat in Bridge Seals Utilizing Innovative Massive Concrete Mixtures

This study focuses on creating mechanistic thermal and structural analysis models for determining thermal stress and cracking in massive concrete structures when alternative, unconventional, or innovative concrete mixtures are considered for design. Current study, funded by the Georgia Department of Transportation, investigates thermal modeling techniques, applying theory to practice, in order to control cracks caused by hydration heat. Thermal cracking caused by hydration heat is detrimental to the long-term durability of large infrastructure such as bridge seals, foundations, and piers. In the proposed analysis, environmental conditions such as convection, weather variation, and solar radiation are considered in a multi-physics model. The thermal model will be validated by an experimental program. Subsequently, a structural model is designed to read in a nonlinear temperature profile and perform a nonlinear cracking analysis of structures based on the boundary and environmental conditions of a bridge seal structure. It is concluded that the proposed evaluation process is efficient and robust in evaluating the effect of innovative and unconventional concrete mixtures that are optimized to control the maximum temperature and temperature variations on mass concrete structures. It is also concluded that the experimental and analysis procedure is highly efficient to validate and streamline the thermal and structural evaluations without a loss of accuracy.