Early Age Temperature Distributions in Concrete Bridge in the Middle of Iraq (Experimental Study)

Abstract

The temperature difference between the inside and outside of the concrete bridge causes the appearance of early cracks in the concrete bridge. The thermal cracks are appeared on surfaces or inside the bridge body. The sources of the thermal loads come from solar radiation, air temperature, wind speed, and the heat of hydration of cement after pouring concrete (at the early edge of concrete). Concrete T-section used to study the temperature distribution at the early edge, fourteen thermocouples used to measure the temperature during the day; these thermocouples were placed in the different location inside the concrete bridge as well as on its surface. The temperature-time curves were obtained for each thermocouple, from these curves it was found that the effect of cement hydration on the internal temperature was during the first 48 hours, while the effect of solar radiation was evident during daylight hours on the top surface of the model. The effect of solar radiation continues while the effect of cement hydration vanished after 48 hours.