Homework 3

The Hoover Dam is one of the largest concrete structures ever created. While building the dam, to prevent
thermal stresses and cracking due to exothermic reactions during the concrete curing process, the construction
crews build the dam in many stages, using cold water to speed up the concrete curing process before pouring
the next section. In this problem you will examine what might have happened if they had done done so, and
instead just poured the whole dam in one go and let it cure on its own.

Figure 1: Hoover Dam under construction

Assume the following properties for curing concrete: q̇gen = 20 W/m3 ; k = 0.72 W/m-K
The very top section of the dam is 45’ thick, and as it is above the spillways it always has air on both sides.
Lying in the desert between Arizona and Nevada, the surrounding air temperature is quite warm on average.
Assuming an average air temperature of 90°F, and air convection coefficients of 8 W/m2 -K, and steady state
conditions, calculate the
a) Maximum internal temperature (°F)
While the bottom of the dam is 660’ thick, this section is below the river and powerhouse. Approximately
2/3rd ’s of the way down the dam, however, the dam reaches 400’ thick, and on the downriver side is still
above the powerhouse and lower-river, and so is subject to the same ambient air conditions as the uppermost
section of the dam. The upriver side, however, is covered by relatively cool water. Assuming the heat transfer
to the water is enough to keep the upriver surface at 65°F, calculate
b) The maximum internal temperature (°F)
c) The location of the maximum temperature (measured as a fraction of the distance from the upriver to
downriver face of the dam)
Please also plot the temperature distributions in both sections of the dam on the same plot. Given the
different scales, both axes should be normalized; the x position by the width, and the temperature by the
maximum temperature.