A Tool for Experimental Analysis of Behavior of Solidifying Concrete inside Massive Structures

Abstract

In massive concrete structures, the heat generated by hydration reaction is the main cause of defects in homogeneity of the structure as the rate of hydration itself depends on temperature, which results in uneven temperature field distributions throughout the structure and subsequent cracking. This effect, which occurs during solidification and further hardening of concrete, influences the integrity and thus durability of the entire structure, therefore, it is analyzed beforehand by means of various numerical methods. This paper presents a simple heating system for curing concrete specimens under prescribed temperature history so that material parameters in arbitrary locations inside massive structure can be experimentally obtained, providing relevant input data necessary in the numerical methods. The controlling unit of the heating system is constructed very simply, based on the fuzzy logic techniques.