Research Articles | Challenge Journal of Concrete Research Letters

Thermal Cracking Of Concrete Pile Caps

José Milton de Araújo

View Counter: Abstract | 1536 times | ‒ Full Article | 881 times |

Full Text:

PDF

Abstract


The large pile caps of buildings and bridges may have superficial cracks already in the early hours after concreting. Due to the large volume of concrete, the temperature inside the pile cap may reach very high values, as a result of the heat of hydration of cement. Because of the strong temperature gradients, the surface of the pile cap is tensioned and may crack. The employment of skin reinforcement does not avoid the cracking of concrete. However, this reinforcement may reduce the crack width, providing the onset of a large number of small cracks, instead of a single crack with large opening. The object of this work is to address this issue by analyzing the main variables involved and suggest a design methodology for the calculation of skin reinforcement of concrete pile caps.

Keywords


heat transfer; thermal stresses; concrete; cracking; pile caps; reinforcement

References


BS 8007:1987; Code of practice for Design of concrete structures for retaining aqueous liquids. London, 1987.

Harrison T.A.; Early-age Thermal Crack Control in Concrete, CIRIA Report 91, London, 1992.

EN 1992-3:2006; Eurocode 2: Design of Concrete Structures – Part 3: Liquid retaining and containment structures. Brussels, 2006.

Bamforth P.; Early-Age Thermal Crack Control in Concrete, CIRIA Report C660:2007, London, 2007.

Flaga K., Furtak K.; Problem of thermal and shrinkage cracking in tanks vertical walls and retaining walls near their contact with solid foundation slabs, Architecture Civil Engineering Environment, ACEE, 2 (2), p.23-30, 2009.

Bamforth P., Denton S., Shave J.; The development of a revised unified approach for the design of reinforcement to control cracking in concrete resulting from restrained contraction, Report ICE/0706/012, London, 2010.

EN 1992-1-1:2010; Eurocode 2: Design of concrete structures – Parte 1-1: Generall rules and rules for buildings. Brussels, 2010.

CEB-FIP Model Code 1990. Published by Thomas Telford, London, 1993.

ACI 318M-11:2011; Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete (ACI 318M-11) and Commentary. U.S.A., ACI, 2011.

FIB Model Code 2010. Lausanne, 2010.

Zienckiewicz O.C., Taylor R.L.; The Finite Element Method. 7nd ed. UK: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2013.

Araújo, J. M. Analysis of concrete gravity dams considering the construction phase and the dynamic interaction dam-reservoir-foundation. Doctoral thesis, Graduate Program in Civil Engineering, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 1995. (in Portuguese).

Araújo, J. M.; Awruch, A. M. Cracking safety evaluation on gravity concrete dams during the construction phase. Computers and Structures, 66 (1), pp.93-104, 1998.

Serth R.W.; Process Heat Transfer. Principles and Applications. U.S.A.: Academic Press, 2007.

Andrade W.P., Fontoura J.T.F., Bittencourt R.M., Guerra E.A.; Adiabatic temperature rise of concrete, Bulletin IBRACON M-4, São Paulo: IBRACON, 1981, (in Portuguese).

Klemczac B., Knoppik-Wróbel A.; Early age thermal and shrinkage cracks in concrete structures - influence of geometry and dimensions of a structure, Architecture Civil Engineering Environment, ACEE, 4 (3), pp. 55-70, 2011.

Atrushi D.S.; Tensile and Compressive Creep of Early Age Concrete: Testing and Modelling. Doctoral Thesis, Department of Civil Engineering, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, 2003.


Related Articles

  • Mohammed Gamal Al-Hagri, Shahed Husni Ben Issa Ebribesh, Fares Alamoudi, Abdulrahman Rakan Al Haj Ali
    Challenge Journal of Concrete Research Letters (2025) 16(2) 85-94
    Mechanical properties of concrete are size dependent. While many reports have discussed the size effect of the test specimen on the static properties of concrete, research on the effect of cross-sectional dimensions of the concrete beams on its impact performa...
  • Awadhesh Srivastava, Abhishek Mishra, Sachin Kumar Singh
    Challenge Journal of Concrete Research Letters (2025) 16(1) 33-39
    This work presents the results of an experimental investigation into the strength and durability properties of fiber-reinforced concretes that have polypropylene (PP) fibers added to the concrete by volume and nano-SiO2 (silicon dioxide) and nano-TiO2 (titaniu...
  • Yasin Duysak, Sinan Melih Nigdeli, Gebrail Bekdaş
    Challenge Journal of Concrete Research Letters (2024) 15(4) 134-141
    Section design is an important process for designing reinforced concrete structures because of the existence of factors such as bearing capacity and cost. After defining the initial cross sections for reinforced concrete elements, reinforcement amounts are cal...
  • Arif Ulu
    Challenge Journal of Concrete Research Letters (2024) 15(2) 47-55
    In the construction and infrastructure sector, efforts are being made to find faster and more efficient materials. Polymer concrete (PC) challenges traditional concrete with its fast setting, durability and abrasion resistance. While studies on PC strength are...
  • Fatih İrfan Baş
    Challenge Journal of Structural Mechanics (2025) 11(1) 42-54
    Flexible pavements are considered more sustainable than concrete pavements primarily due to the higher long-term maintenance and rehabilitation costs associated with concrete pavements. Concrete pavements possess a higher modulus of elasticity, which allows th...