Concrete

Technology

Hot and Cold Weather

Harza Engineering Company

 Hot weather
concreting
■ ACI 305 defines as: “Any
combination of high air temperature,
low humidity, and wind velocity
tending to impair the quality of fresh
or hardened concrete or otherwise
resulting in abnormal properties.”
Undesirable effects -
plastic state
■ Increased water demand
■ Increased rate of slump loss and
corresponding tendency to add
water at the job site
■ Increased rate of setting resulting
in greater difficulty with handling,
finishing, and curing, and
increasing possibility of cold joints
■ Increased tendency for plastic
cracking
■ Increased difficulty in controlling
entrained air content
Undesirable effects -
hardened state
■ Decreased strength resulting from
higher water demand and
increased temperature level
■ Increased tendency for drying
shrinkage and differential thermal
cracking
■ Decreased durability
■ Decreased uniformity of surface
appearance
Precautions for Hot Weather Concrete
Water demand
Setting time
Mitigating
effects of hot
weather
■ Pre-cooling the concrete
 Sprinkling aggregate stockpiles
 Shading stockpiles
 Use of chilled water
 Use of ice
■ Use of retarding admixture
■ Transporting concrete in reflective
equipment
■ Cooling placing area - fog spray
■ Wetting forms and reinforcement
■ Shading the placing area
■ Minimizing delays in placement
■ Placement at night or cooler part of
the day
■ Prompt application of curing
Plastic shrinkage
cracking
Cause of plastic
shrinkage
cracking
■ Rapid surface drying
 High temperature
 Low humidity
 Wind
 Insufficient bleed water on the
surface
■ If evaporation approaches 1.0 kg
of water/m2/hour precautions are
necessary
Measures to
avoid plastic
shrinkage
cracking
■Fog spray
■ Plastic sheeting
■ Monomolecular film “Confilm” (90%
water - do not finish into concrete)
■ Wind breaks
■ If they occur, close cracks with
float, pushing sides of the crack
together
Strength
Drying shrinkage
Cold weather
concreting
■ ACI 306 defines as “a period when
for more than 3 successive days
the mean daily temperature drops
below 4.4 0C.” Furthermore, in
moderately cold weather, as in the
fall or early spring, when heavy
frost or freezing is forecast at the
job site, all unformed concrete
surfaces should be protected from
freezing for at least 24 hours after
it is placed.
Purpose of
protection
■ Prevent damage from freezing of
critically saturated concrete
■ Provide an environment for
continued strength development
■ Air-entrainment is essential for
long term protection of concrete
from freeze-thaw damage
 Measures to be
taken
■ Placing temperature
 Heated water
 Heated aggregates
■ Additional cement or accelerator
■ Use of Type III portland cement
■ Insulation
■ Heated enclosure
 Needs to be vented for CO2
■ Maintain temperature records
■ Monitor strength development with
the maturity concept (ASTM C 1074)