Study on the Effects of Innovative Curing Combinations on the Early Temperature Field of Concrete Box Girders

Abstract

Box girder bridges are often subject to cracking due to wet temperature changes caused by the heat of hydration in the early stages; however, current studies do not provide an effective method for considering this effect. The reasonable temperature control of concrete box girders can prevent early concrete cracking and ensure concrete quality, but box girder temperature control becomes an important focus in construction. To fill this gap, a two-dimensional temperature field study was carried out for a large-span box bridge by the finite element method. The advantages and disadvantages of the two innovative combination curing methods and the early curing effects on the construction of a box girder in summer were investigated and analyzed based on the temperature field of the box girder under different curing methods, the time–history curves of the temperature at each key node of the box girder, and the time–history curves of the temperature difference between the inside and outside of the box girder. The research results show that the mold paste and automatic water spray method (Combination B method) is more suitable for the early curing of box girders in summer.