Proceedings of ESTE 2015 conference

Temperature Prediction Models in Mass Concrete State of

the Art Literature Review
Herbert Abeka, Mark Adom Asamoah, Jack Osei Banahene, Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah
Faculty of Civil and Geo Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University for Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.

ABSTRACT
This paper provides a “State of the Art” review on current research into the models that are used
to predict temperature development in mass concrete structures. The principal parameters that
considerably affect the performance of mass concrete structures are the maximum concrete
temperature, maximum concrete temperature difference, time, and duration of the maximum
temperature difference. Though a lot of estimation methods have attempted to either predict
the maximum in place temperature or the temperature distribution, in order to control the
occurrence of early age thermal cracks, there remains a need for a broader understanding of
the response of concrete structures to different intrinsic and extrinsic conditions such structures
could be subjected. The use of high fidelity models such as the finite element method to
predict the temperature distribution with time, have been the current state of practice in mass
concrete structures such as dams. The application of such methods requires relatively more
computational effort, and therefore other estimation methods have been recommended for fairly
practical use. In general a trade of must be made between the efficiency and accuracy of the
method used versus the practicality of the chosen method.

Introduction
Mass concrete has been defined as an
element having dimensions large enough to
raise concerns with respect to the heats of
hydration, which cause significant volume
changes and therefore cracking within the
structure (ACI, 2005). The hydration of cement
is an exothermic reaction and as such liberates
heat which raises the internal temperature to
a high level. As the section size of a massive
concrete structure is quite large, after the
pouring of concrete, the internal temperature
increases dramatically due to the heat of
hydration. (Zhu Bofang,2014) The rate and
magnitude of heat generation of the concrete
depends on the amount per unit volume of
cement and pozzolana (if any), the compound
composition and fineness of cement, and on
the temperature during hydration of the cement.
The hydration temperature is affected in turn by
the amount of heat lost or gained as governed
by the size of the member and exposure
conditions. The variation of temperature with
respect to distance is termed to as thermal
gradient The conductivity of concrete is
relatively low and therefore at the core of
mass concrete structures, the time required
for the heat generated to be dissipated and
uniformly distributed becomes lengthy. This
situation leads to a thermal gradient between
the center and outer surface of the mass
concrete structure. The outer surface cools
relatively faster than the inner core because
of the presence of atmospheric temperature.
Once the concrete has reached its maximum
temperature, the core of the element will
enter a cooling phase as the liberated heat is
dissipated to the surrounding environment. The
cooler surface zone now acts as a restraint to
the thermal shrinkage of the internal concrete.
Thus the internal concrete is subjected to

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tensile stresses and strains which could lead Estimation Methods for
to cracking at the core of the element. This Predicting Temperature
internal cracking is more substantial than the Development
surface cracks. Internal restraints caused by the
contraction and the expansion coupled with the The ACI Graphical Method
temperature differential induces considerable Graphical method of ACI 207.2R uses charts
tensile thermal stresses. Since the elastic and equations based on empirical data to
modulus of concrete is varying with age, the predict the maximum temperature in mass
mass concrete structure will have low strength concrete. Adjustments can be made for
(compressive and tensile) at early ages. member size, exposure condition, cement
Cracking can occur when the concrete residual type, use of fly ash and/or slag cement,
stress exceeds the concrete tensile strength. and placement temperature. The adiabatic
Most of the mass concrete specifications temperature rise can be accounted for by
limit the maximum temperature differential to
20oC with an allowable maximum in place (1)
temperature to about 70oC in order to prevent
the phenomenon of delayed ettringite formation.
Depending on the dimensions of the concrete
Where Tr is the cement Turbidimeter (ASTM C
element and other prevailing conditions, namely
115) fineness adjusted adiabatic temperature
concrete mixture and boundary conditions,
rise for 171 kg of cement, in °C; Ti is the
cracks appear over weeks, months or even
adiabatic temperature rise for a Type I cement
years, in extreme cases, after the concrete
from ACI 207.2R, Fig. 2.1; Tf is the heat
element was cast. Factors affecting temperature
generation in percent of 28-day heat generation
development and distribution can be classified
for the measured cement fineness from
as either intrinsic or extrinsic conditions. Intrinsic
ACI 207.2R, Fig. 2.2; and T1800 is the heat
conditions include; binder and aggregate type,
generation in percent of 28-day heat generation
quantity and grading, water to cement ratio and
for a cement fineness of 1800 cm2/g from
admixture and extender type and quantity. While
ACI 207.2R, Fig. 2.2.6 Generally, this method
extrinsic conditions comprise; formwork type
underestimates maximum temperature and
and removal time, construction sequencing,
is poor predictor of time to achieve maximum
initial concrete temperature, ambient
temperature (Riding et al. 2006).
temperature, radiation, solar radiation, size of
the concrete element, wind and any possible
thermal insulation. Portland Cement Association method
The Portland Cement Association(PCA)
Macro models for predicting the temperature
design and Control of Concrete Mixtures
distribution within mass concrete members is
(2003) recommends an approach to find
presented. These macro-level models are in the
the maximum in- place temperature a mass
form of graphical methods [2], manual step-
concrete structure can experience during it
wise calculations or fairly sophisticated finite
life time. It assumes that the temperature rises
element finite difference methods. This paper is
12 °C for every 100 kg of cement. It is also
aimed at giving a comprehensive state of the art
only appropriate for concretes with cement
literature review of the macro models used to
content between 300 – 600 kg/m3 and a
predict temperature development.
minimum dimension of at least 1.8 m (6 ft).

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As described by Riding et al. (2006), the PCA
method is a quick method for estimating the
maximum temperature reached in a concrete,
but it does not consider anything about the
type of cement used, information about the
time that the maximum temperature is reached,
and also does not allow the quantification of
temperature differences. The temperature rise
for supplementary cementitious material such
as the slag or fly ash can be accounted for
by approximately halving the heat that would
been liberated from the cement for a given
mass((ACI 207.1R-96). The maximum in-place
temperature can there be estimated as
(2)
Where Tmax is the maximum in place
temperature (oC); Ti is the initial placing
temperature (oC); ʌc is the density of cement
(kg/m3) and ʌscm is the density of supplementary
cementitious material(kg/m3).
Significant modifications have been made by
Bamforth and Price, who designed charts
to correct for member size of less than 2 m
(6.6 ft) (least dimension) and to account for
fly ash and slag cement contents. The charts
show temperature rise curves per 100 kg of
cementitious materials for different fly ash and
slag cement replacement levels as a function of
the placement thickness.
Schmidt Method
This is numerical method of simulating the
temperature distribution in mass concrete by
employing the Fourier heat transfer equations.
The temperatures are predicted at predefined
nodes at discrete time steps. By utilizing
this numerical integration algorithm, the
maximum temperature difference and peak
temperatures observed in the mass concrete
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can be estimated. This method also takes
into consideration the variability in boundary
conditions (differences in exposure temperature
at various locations). The fundamental equation
is that of a two dimension heat transfer analysis
with the assumption that there is no heat flow
in the direction normal to the body under study,
but can be generalized to any dimensionality of
heat flow by (Eq.3).
(3)
where QH is the heat generated by the hydrating
cement(W/m3); k is the thermal conductivity of
the concrete(W/(m .oC)); T is the temperature :
x, y,z are the coordinates(m) ; t is the time(s) ; ʌ
is the density(Kg/m3) and c is the specific heat
of concrete(J/Kg/oC.).
This method states the temperature of an
elemental volume at any subsequent time is
dependent not only upon its own temperature
but also upon the temperatures of the
adjacent elemental volumes. Iteratively for a on
dimensional heat flow scenario, the temperature
calculated at discrete nodes for a given time
step of an elemental volume is computed as
(Eq.4)
(4)
Where M = and the time
step can be chosen as ; with
∆x = nodal spacing;ɲ = parameter (either
thermal conductivity or diffusivity). The
parameter M can be used to generalize
the application of this method in relation to
the dimensionality of the heat flow analysis.
Assuming the numerical constant M is
chosen to be 2, then one simulates a one
dimensional heat flow pattern. For the two-
dimensional case the M is replaced by 4,
and the averaging must take into account

temperatures on four sides of the given
element. For the three-dimensional case,
the constant 2 is replaced by the number
6 and the averaging must be carried on for
six elements surrounding the cubic element
in question. The time stepping method
has a wide range of applications, such
as, the determination of the approximate
date for grouting a relatively thin arch dam
after a winter’s exposure, the depth of
freezing, and temperature distributions
after placement. The principal objection to
the Schmidt Method of temperature is the
time required to complete the step-by-step
computation. This has been overcome by
the use of computer programs (Townsend,
1981).
where ʌ is the density of the concrete; Cp, the
specific heat capacity; T , the temperature; t,
the time; k, the thermal conductivity; x, y are the
coordinates at a particular point in the structure;
and QH, the rate of internal heat evolution.
It is an improvement of the Schmidt method
because it is formulation is able to account
for the heat evolution of the hydrating cement.
Adiabatic hydration models are typical used
to quantify the rate of heat evolution. Other
approaches have been to use a maturity heat
rate model that incorporates the Arrehenius
function to account for the temperature variation
with time at a particular age of concrete. Ballim
(2004) showed that finite difference model could
predict the maximum temperature differential to
2oC of the measured data, throughout the time
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The Finite Difference Method
It is also a numerical time stepping approach
used to solve the heat transfer equation.
Ballim (2004) developed a finite difference
two dimensional solution to the Fourier heat
equations to model the time-based temperature
profiles in mass concrete elements. On
primary limitation to his model is its use to only
rectangular mass concrete element coupled
with an implicit assumption that the heat
flow remains constant over the length of the
structure. The temperature distribution through
a two-dimensional structure can be described
by the Fourier equations.
history of his analysis. He identified the following
limitations with the model:
t
The model cannot deal with structures
that are not rectangular.
t
The problem of early drying on the
exposed surfaces and in general the
definition of the boundary conditions
needs to be overcome and more
precisely defined to include the effects
of sunlight, humidity, wind and cloud
cover.
t
Sequential construction (i.e. casting
fresh concrete onto concrete that has
not dissipated all of its hydration heat)
cannot be accounted for.
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t
Analysis of the concrete temperature
where conduits, which have chilled
water flowing through them, are cast
into the concrete in order to reduce
the overall temperature within the
concrete element.
The Finite Element Method
Extensive research have been performed on
the prediction of temperatures in mass concrete
by the use of the finite element method.
Radovanovic (1998) tried to predict the early
age behavior of concrete in a dam structure.
He adopted a two dimensional finite element
approach in the commercial available program,
ANSYS, in order to investigate whether the
loss in strength of construction joints of dams,
was dependent on the thermal stresses
induced by the high rate of heat evolution of
the hydrating cement. The thermal parameters
investigated were the thermal flux, thermal
gradient and temperature field, and they were
estimated by setting out a transient thermal
model phase. He employed the adiabatic
hydration model proposed by Tanabe et al.
(1986) to predict the heat curve of specimen
he tested in the laboratory. This served as input
in the transient thermal finite element model, in
which an implicit assumption that the thermal
properties of mass concrete was independent
of time and temperature was made. In his
findings, he observed a gradual decrease in
temperatures from the center to the surface
of a given cross section. A parametric study
was later performed to investigate the effect of
the size of mass concrete, to account for its
influence on the distribution of temperatures
and also provide a wider range of heat transfer
models. He concluded that the transient thermal
finite element algorithm used was able to
accurately predict the early age behavior of the
experimental setup and as well as the dam. To
evaluate the induced thermal stresses caused
by the temperature rise in the transient thermal
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model, he also performed a transient stress
model on the experimental specimen and the
dam. He asserted that the thermal gradient
were high enough to induce stresses greater
than the tensile strength of the concrete at early
ages, and as such the potential for thermal
cracking was maximum in the specimens
considered.
Also a couple of research have extended
the tow dimensional approach of modeling
the thermal beaviour to a three dimensional
phase. One of the early works was performed
by Machida and Uehara (1987) where they
forecasted the growth of thermal cracking
thermal cracking in mass concrete by using
the commercial software, ADINAT and ADINA
programs. The modeling was done in two
phases, that is, the heat transfer analysis and
the thermal stress analysis. In the heat transfer
model the adiabatic hydration model resented
by Tanabe et al (1986) was used quantify the
adiabatic temperature rise of the hydrating
cement. They observed that the model was
able to predict temperature distribution to
within 2.1oC at the center of the specimen
considered. Another peculiar observation
was that, there was a large decrease in
temperature for the model when compared to
the experimental block in the early ages. They
attributed this phenomenon to the fact that the
uncertainty governing the convection coefficient
used in the model was large and also that the
rate of heat evolution was independent of time
and temperature.
Lawrence et al. (2012) in his study on the
effect of the differences in hydration rates of
mass concrete structures employed a three
dimensional finite element model to predict the
distribution of temperature, thermal stresses
as well as thermal gradient. Four different
set of concrete mix proportions were used
to construct eight blocks of 1.07m x 1.07m

x 1.07m. The finite element model was
successfully calibrated and validated with that of
the experimental setup. A water to cementitious
ratio of 0.5 was used for all the mixes and
varying proportions of Portland cement and
either ground granulated blast-furnace slag or
Class F fly ash were used as binding material
in the various mixes. The experimental blocks
were cast under constant ambient temperature
in a controlled laboratory environment and the
adiabatic rise of temperature for each block was
defined by using data from adiabatic calorimetry
test from each concrete mix. Also diffusivity
test were performed on cylinders containing
samples of concrete mixes for each block,
in order to estimate the thermal conductivity
of each mix. Other thermal and mechanical
properties in modelling the thermal behavior
Evaluation of the Finite Difference and Finite Element
The current state of practice involves performing
adiabatic calorimetry testing on concrete
mixtures and using finite element analysis
to predict temperature distributions over
time, Riding et al. (2006). The ability of two
temperature prediction models (finite element
and finite difference method) to predict the
maximum in-place temperature is being
examined. Fig 1 shows an experimental mass
concrete block of dimensions 1.1mx 1.1m
x1.1m. With the aid of ANSYS a commercial
Fig 1: Experimental Block
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of the experimental blocks were the specific
heat, the activation energy and the convection
coefficient of the formwork and insulation, as
well as the tensile, compressive and modulus of
elasticity of each concrete block measured from
standardized testing schemes. He concluded
that the finite element model was able to
accurately and reliably predict the temperature
profiles as well as location for potential thermal
cracking were very similar in comparison to
the experimental blocks. Also he asserted that
even though parameters such as the maximum
temperature differential plays a major role
in causing thermal cracking, the magnitude
attained tensile strength at early age is a
paramount indicator that should be considered
in estimating the potential for cracking due to
thermal effect.
software, a numerical simulation of the
temperature distribution in the mass concrete
block was performed. Fig 2 shows the finite
element modeled block that had the same field
placement conditions such as the experimental
block. To quantify the adiabatic temperature
rise, Tanabe et al. (1986) adiabatic heat of
hydration model was used. Table 1 shows
the input parameters for the transient thermal
analysis model.
Fig 2: Finite element model of concrete block.
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Proceedings of ESTE 2015 conference

Alongside the finite element model, the a
two dimensional finite difference approach
proposed by Ballim(2004) was used to provide
a point-wise approximation of the temperature
distribution at predefined locations of the central
cross section of the experimental block. With
the thermocouple situated at the center, side,
bottom and top surface as shown in Fig 3, the
temperature rise with time was predicted. Also
the adiabatic hydration model of Tanabe et al
(1986) was utilized.

Table 1: Input parameters for the transient thermal analysis model

Properties Values
Unit weight 2400kg/m3
Cement Content 485kg/m3
w/c ratio 0.42
Thermal Conductivity 2.5W/m.K
Specific heat 960J/kg.oC
Convection Coefficient 29.3KJ/m3.hoC
Heat Generation rate 2000(exp(-0.9398-t/24))
Placing temperature 31.8oC
Ambient temperature 36.2oC

Fig 3. Cross section considered for the finite difference model and the locations of
thermocouples.

Result and Discussion to estimate the minimum time required for

From Fig 4, both analytical macro models
were able to predict the maximum in-place
temperature at early ages in the mass concrete
block. However the finite difference method
could not accurately predict the time at which
this temperature will be reached. As such,
removal of formwork becomes quite difficult.
Results show that by employing the finite
element method, the modeling uncertainties
can reduced and as such one is able to obtain
reliable result.

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Fig 4: Temperature distribution with time at the center of the mass concrete block.

Conclusions
Control of thermal cracking in mass concrete is of great importance to ensure the desired
service life and function of structures. Mass concrete may crack due to the thermal and relative
humidity gradients that develop, or may be weakened in strength by extreme temperatures or
lack of moisture. The paper discusses the models that are employed to predict the temperature
development in such structures. The PCA method and the graphical method of temperature
prediction are unable to account for the time –dependent temperature variation in mass concrete
and also the temperature differential for a given section. However numerical integration schemes
such as the schimdt method is able to overcome these shortfalls with allowance for modelling
boundary conditions. The heat of hydration models that account for the heat generation in mass
concrete is an important parameter when the Schmidt method and other high fidelity macro models
such as the finite element and finite difference approaches are adopted. Also, the evaluation of
these sophisticated modelled showed, that with quite a few number of assumption made the finite
element method may provide reliable estimates than the finite difference method.

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Ballim, Y. A. (2003). “A numerical model and associated calorimeter for predicting

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Machida, N., and Uehara, K., (1987). Nonlinear Thermal Stress Analysis of a Massive
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