Determining the adiabatic temperature rise of concrete by inverse analysis: case study of a spillway gate pier

Abstract

This paper presents a method to find the adiabatic temperature rise of concrete by retro-analysing temperatures measured in the field. The construction phase is simulated with a 3D finite-element model that considers the coupling between thermal and chemical phenomena due to cement hydration. A genetic algorithm is used to find the main parameters that characterise the adiabatic temperature curve and that better fit the temperatures measured in the field for a given structure. This method was applied to the construction of the spillway gate pier of a hydroelectric power plant. The good agreement between numerical results and temperature measurements points to the feasibility of the proposed method.

Keywords:

• concrete
• thermo-chemical analysis
• inverse analysis
• hydroelectric power plants
• numerical model

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the OIV construction consortium, represented by Odebrecht and IMPREGILO VINCCLER responsible for the construction of the Works of Manuel Piar-Hydropower Plant Tocoma-Rio Caroni and were contracted by Corpoelec, the former EDELCA. Furthermore, the authors acknowledge the financial support of the Brazilian Agency for Electrical Power (ANEEL), and the Brazilian Scientific Agencies CNPq, CAPES and FAPERJ.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Part of this work was supported by the Brazilian Agency for Electrical Power (ANEEL), and the Brazilian Scientific Agencies CNPq, CAPES and FAPERJ.