Special Concretes –

Mass Concrete
 What is mass concrete?
• ACI 301 (Specifications for Structural Concrete): “any volume of
structural concrete in which a combination of dimensions of the
member being cast, the boundary conditions, the characteristics of the
concrete mixture, and the ambient conditions can lead to undesirable
thermal stresses, cracking, deleterious chemical reactions, or reduction
in the long-term strength as a result of elevated concrete temperature
due to heat of hydration.”
• General guidelines – peak temperature < 70 oC (to avoid DEF), and
differential temperature < 20 oC (to avoid thermal cracking)
ACI 207.1R-05 “Guide to Mass Concrete”, 207.2R-07 “Report on Thermal and Volume Change Effects on
Cracking of Mass Concrete”, and 224R-01 “Control of Cracking of Concrete Structures”
 What size qualifies for mass concrete?
• Any size where outward flow of heat is stopped – leading to
near-adiabatic conditions at the centre
• Generally, > 1 m thick elements may have such issues, but
many projects consider even 0.5 m as mass concrete!
 Considerations in mass concrete pours
• Concrete supply
• Casting sequence
• Cold joints – to be avoided as much as possible; but current
methods favour continuous concreting
• Plastic settlement
• Heat of hydration
• Early age thermal cracking
(Bamforth, in Newman and Choo, 2003)
 Materials for mass concrete

• 43 grade cement; or if available, low heat cement; as less a

quantity as possible!
• Fly ash / slag as cement replacement; composite cement
• Retarding admixtures (?)
• Superplasticizer for flowable concrete
• Cold water / ice  lowering the placement temperature of
concrete is the best protection against thermal issues
Apart from cold water or ice, keeping the aggregates cool (sprinkling water) and shaded is also recommended.
Alternatively, pipes circulating cooling water can be embedded in the structure – this is good for structures like dams
 Thermal cracking
• Heat of hydration  increases core temperature
• Exposure of top surface leads to thermal shock, causing
cracking, if differential is large with the core
• Bamforth (1982): Strain εt = K.α.ΔT.R,
where R is the restraint factor (0 for unrestrained, 1
for full restraint), and K is the modification factor of
0.8 for sustained loading and creep
• When strain exceeds tensile capacity, cracking occurs
Core may also crack over a very long duration, when the temperature finally reduces; but
sufficient redistribution of stresses may occur leading to low chances of large scale damage
 Typical guidelines to avoid cracking
• Maximum permissible core temperature = 70 oC; mainly for
Delayed Ettringite Formation considerations (when blended
cements are used, higher temperatures are Ok)
• Maximum differential = 20 oC
• Other limits may also be placed on placement temperatures of
adjacent elements
• Provision of steel to minimize crack width (for methodology of
calculation, see CIRIA Report 660)
 Calculation of temperature differential allowed

(Bamforth, in Newman and Choo, 2003)

Need a clear assessment of the

restraint factors at critical
locations – especially where old
and new concrete join…
52 x 52 x 4 m raft for high rise building
 Temperature measurement in raft

Type Material Wire colours Temperature range

Type T Copper (+) and White and blue -250 oC to 350 oC (-
Constantan (-) 418 oF to 662 oF)
 Results

After 1 month…
Corner Temp (oC) Face Temp (oC)

(Top) 150 mm 62.3 (Top) 150 mm 63.3

650 mm 65.4 650 mm 69.4
1300 mm 68.2 1300 mm 73.7
2000 mm (Core) 68.3 2000 mm (Core) 75.5
2700 mm No data 2700 mm 72.0
3400 mm 61.3 3400 mm No data
3850 mm (Bottom) 55.6 3850 mm (Bottom) 62.5
Ambient 36.9 Ambient 36.6
Temperature in raft
 Design of concrete
• Most considerations are common to other concretes
• Primary importance needed to mitigate risk of cracking
• Less cement (larger aggregate size also); binders with low heat - Thumb
rule is to assume 12 oC temperature rise for every 100 kg of plain OPC
• When fly ash is used, later age strengths can also be specified – helps
increase fly ash content
• Retarded setting to avoid cold joints
• Mix should be cohesive with low bleed
• Lower thermal expansion coefficient (governed by aggregate type –
limestone best), and higher tensile strain capacity desirable
Effects of fly ash and slag

(Bamforth, in Newman and Choo, 2003)

Temperature monitoring – mock-up
 Use of ice or cold water
• Best strategy for mass concrete is the use of lower placement
temperature
• Ways to cool: Shading aggregate stockpiles, sprinkling water; using
not so new cement!
• Cooling water is the best strategy, as it has highest Cp – possible to
cool to 2 oC
• But ice is even better: Latent heat is 334 kJ/kg, so heat absorbed by
1 kg of melting ice is equivalent to cooling 1 kg of water by 80 oC!!
• Liquid N2 can also be used for cooling – about 12 kg required to
cool 1 m3 of concrete by 1 oC
(Bamforth, in Newman and Choo, 2003)
Nomogram for concrete mix temperature
Concrete Temperature = 0.75(TcMc+TaMa)+4.18TwMw-334Mi
0.75(Mc+Ma)+4.18(Mw+Mi)

Here, 0.75 kJ/kg = specific heat capacity of cem and agg

And 4.18 kJ/kg = specific heat capacity of water and ice
And 334 kJ/kg = latent heat of ice
T and M indicate Temperature and Mass
C = cement; A = aggregate; W = water; I = Ice

(Bamforth, in Newman and Choo, 2003)

 Minimizing restraints

strips

• Square shapes as far as possible to avoid excessive strains in specific directions

• Construction joints close to areas of local high restraint – very small gaps to be filled after contraction
of the concrete
• Thick sections (> 500 mm) – minimal external restraint; mostly internal from differentials
• Thin section – mostly external restraint; here, no need for precautions to reduce internal differentials –
that will increase cracking risk
(Bamforth, in Newman and Choo, 2003)
 Surface insulation
Mainly when cracking is due to internal
restraint (i.e. temperature differentials)
Removal time to be decided appropriately
Following methods may be used:
• Leaving the formwork in place – if it has
insulating properties, e.g. plywood, or steel
backed with polystyrene
• Foam mats, blankets, quilts
• Soft board
• Sand on polythene
• Tenting
• Ponding
(Bamforth, in Newman and Choo, 2003)
 Example from raft pour
• Polythene sheeting on top of finished surface
• 50 mm thick polystyrene pads laid on top
• After about 6 weeks, top surface temperatures were about 10 -
15 oC higher than ambient, and 10 oC less than core – decision
taken to remove the insulation
• After insulation was removed – inspection of the top surface
revealed no cracks
 Heat modelling of concrete
• As heat generated is most critical for performance, heat
models can be used while designing the mix proportions
• Selection of the correct binder combinations, aggregate type,
and placement temperature to obtain the best results
• Options available are aplenty
• Some examples: (i) Heat model by Ballim and Graham (see
monograph); (ii) Calculation as per ACI 207.2R-07
recommendations; (iii) Mass concrete application for i-Phone
(see paper)
 Ballim-Graham approach
• Solving the Fourier heat flow equation using finite difference
• Considers mass concrete sitting on rock, with top surface
exposed
• Inputs: X, Y, and Z (depth) dimensions; Mix proportions; Binder
type – restricted to OPC, OPC and Fly Ash (some replacement
levels), OPC and Slag (some replacement levels); Aggregate
type; Placement temperature; Time of casting; Local min and
max temperatures
• Output: Temperatures at different locations along depth
Monograph and Excel file included in Moodle
 ACI approach
• Adiabatic temperature rise (oF) for Type I – IV cements, as per:
1.8× hg ×wc
Ha =
0.22×150×27
– 0.22 = specific heat of concrete in cal/g·°C
– 150 = density of concrete in lb/ft3
– 1.8 = conversion factor from Celsius to Fahrenheit
– 27 = conversion factor from yd3 to ft3
– hg = 28-day measured heat generation of the cement by heat of hydration
in cal/g
– wc = weight of cement in pounds per cubic yard of concrete.
 ACI – diffusivity calculation
t = time (days)
h2 = diffusivity of concrete (ft2/day or m2/day),
usually assumed as 0.11 m2/day
D = thickness of concrete section (ft. or m)
θo = initial temperature difference between
concrete and ambient material (°F or °C)
θm = final temperature difference between
concrete and ambient material (°F or °C)

This approach can be used to determine the

time required for the temperature to come
down to a specific level
 Summary
• Mass concrete poses several challenges
• Proper material selection, and low placement temperature are
key aspects
• Planning very important – material storage, pouring sequence,
insulation and its removal etc.
• Heat models enable calculation of adiabatic temperature rise
and time to cooling of the structural element
 References

• CIRIA C660 document

• ACI 207 reports
• Chapter by Bamforth in: Newman and Choo, Advanced
Concrete Technology 4 Volume Set, Elsevier, 2003