Cold-Weather

Concreting

Cold Weather
CSA A23.1
When air temp. is at or below 5C
or when there is a probability of it
falling below 5C within 24 hours of
placing

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Effect of Freezing
Fresh Concrete

Up to 50% reduction of ultimate

strength can occur if frozen

Frozen only once at an early age

Cold-Weather
Concreting

within a few hours

before reaching a str. of 3.5 MPa

With curing nearly all strength can

be restored
Less resistance to weathering
More permeable

Relationship Between
Initial Set and Casting
Temperature

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Relationship Between Final

Set and Casting
Temperature

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Relationship Between
Slump and Casting
Temperature

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Effect of Temperature
on Strength
Development

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Effect of Low
Temperature
on Strength

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Early-Age
Strength

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Retaining Heat of
Hydration

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Cold-Weather
Concreting
Methods to accelerate strength
gain:

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Type 30 High-early-strength
cement
Additional portland cement
(60 to 120 kg/m3 )
Chemical accelerators

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Effect of F/T on Strength of

Non-Air-Entrained
Concrete

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Permissible Concrete
Temperatures at
Placing
CSA A23.1

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Temperature, C

Thickness
of Section, m

Minimum

Maximum

Less than 0.3

0.3-1
1-2
More than 2

10
10
5
5

35
30
25
20

Effect of Temperatures of
Materials on Concrete
Temperature
0.22(T M + T M ) + T M + T
T=

wa

Mwa

0.22(Ma + Mc) + Mw + Mwa

T = temperature of the freshly mixed concrete, C

Ta, Tc, Tw, and Twa = temperature in C of
aggregates, cementing materials, added mixing
water, and free water on aggregates, respectively
Ma, Mc, Mw, and Mwa = mass, kg, of aggregates,
cementing materials, added mixing water, and
free water on aggregates, respectively

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Max. Permissible Temp.

Differential Between Concrete
Surface and Ambient Air Wind
up to 25 km/hr.
Max. permissible temp.
differential, C

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Thickness
of
concrete,
m

20 or
more

0.3
0.6
0.9
1.2

29
22
18
17

22
18
16
15

19
16
15
14

17
15
14
13

12
12
12
12

L to H ratio of structure

Checking Fresh
Concrete
Temperatures

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Checking Hardened
Concrete Temperatures

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Temperature of
Test Cylinders

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Recommended Duration of
(A) Concrete Temp. in Cold
Weather Air-entrained concrete
Protection from early-age
freezing

Service category
No load, not exposed,
favorable moist-curing
No load, exposed, but later
has favorable moistcuring
Partial load, exposed
Fully stressed, exposed
Cold-Weather
Concreting

For safe stripping

strength

Convent.
High-early
Convent.
High-earlyconcrete,
strength
concrete,
strength
days
concrete, days
days
concrete, days
2

See next slide (B)

Recommended Duration of
(B) Concrete Temp. in Cold
Weather
Fully stressed, exposed, air-entrained concrete
Days at 10C

Days at 21C

Type of portland cement Type of portland cement

Required %
10
20
30
10
20
30
of standard- I or GU II or MS III or HE I or GU II or MS III or HE
cured 28-day
strength
50

65

11

14

10

85

21

28

16

16

18

12

29

35

26

23

24

20

95
Cold-Weather
Concreting

ColdWeather
Insulation,
Abovegroun
d

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Thermal Resistance (R) for

10-mm Thick ness of Material
Density
kg/m3

(m2 . C)/W

Expanded polyurethane

24

0.438

Expanded polystyrene

29

0.277

256 - 272

0.204

545

0.087

32 - 56

0.231

112 - 131

0.148

Board and Slabs

Mineral fiberboard
Plywood
Loose fill
Wood fiber, soft woods
Vermiculite
Cold-Weather
Concreting

Insulating
Blankets

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Thermal resistance of
mineral fibre blanket
(50 to 70mm thick)

1.2
(m2 C)/W

Insulating Concrete Forms

(ICF)

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Insulated
Column Forms
Rigid
High-density
plywood

polystyrene
Rough
plywood

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Enclosure
s

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Wood
Canvas
Tarpaulins
Polyethylene Film

Heated Enclosure

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Direct-Fired
Heater

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Indirect-Fired
Heater

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Hydronic
Systems

Cold-Weather
Concreting

Maturity
Concept
M = (C + 10) t
where

Cold-Weather
Concreting

M = maturity factor
= summation
C = concrete temperature, C
t = duration of curing at temperature
C, usually in hours

Cold-Weather
Concreting