HOT WEATHER CONCRETING

INTRODUCTION, EFFECTS, PRECAUTIONS

INTRODUCTION
 Concrete structures being most common around the
world.
 In specific regions, climates are prolonged spells of
either hot or cold weather.
 Producing uniform quality of concrete becomes
challenging.
 Temperature of air, humidity level, wind speed, water
and dry concrete all factors play a big role and should be
considered.
EXTREME WEATHER CONCRETING:-
 India has regions of extreme hot weather (hot –humid
and hot-aird)as well as cold weather .

 The Indian standards dealing with extreme

weather concreting are:-
 IS: 7861 (Part 1-1975)- Hot weather
concreting
 IS: 7861 (Part 2-1981)- cold weather
concreting
DEFINITION
 Varies from place to place.
 For Indian condition, 40 degrees is the threshold for
hot weather concreting.
 Any concreting done at an ambient temperature of
more than threshold temperature is regarded as hot
weather concreting.
 Special measures need to be adopted.
Hot weather is any combination of the following conditions
that tends to impair the quality of freshly mixed or hardened
concrete by accelerating the rate of moisture loss and rate of
cement hydration, or otherwise causing detrimental results:

High concrete temperature;

Low relative humidity;
Wind speed
Solar radiation.
High ambient temperature.
EFFECTS
STAGE EFFECT
PRODUCTION INCREASED WATER DEMAND FOR GIVEN WORKABILITY

TRANSIT LOSS OF WATER BY EVAPORATION, LOSS OF WORKABILITY

PLACING, LOSS OF WATER BY EVAPORATION, LOSS OF WORKABILITY,

FINISHING INCREASED RATE OF SETTING, PLASTIC SHRINKAGE
AND CURING CRACKING, LOWER LONG TERM STRENGTH
LONG TERM LOWER STRENGTH, DECREASED DURABILITY
PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED
 Rapid rate of hydration
 Quick setting
 Early stiffening
 Rapid evaporation of mixing water
 Greater plastic shrinkage
 Less time for finishing
 Absorption of water from concrete by formwork
 Difficulty in curing
RAPID RATE OF HEAT OF HYDRATION
 Concrete sets and gains strength due to hydration of cement.
 Hydration occurs faster in hot weather.
 Also, hydration process evolves heat.
 Hence faster the hydration faster the heat generation.
 Results in hotter concrete, speeding up the process of setting.
 Fast setting does not allow concrete enough time to gain
strength sufficiently.
 Initial strength may not suffer but long term strength is
adversely affected.
RAPID EVAPORATION OF MIXING WATER
 Hot weather condition is associated with relatively lower
humidity.
 Water demand of a concrete mix is higher in hot weather due
to rapid evaporation.
 To maintain workability of the mix, extra water has to be
added.
 Extra water would lead to higher water cement ratio and in turn
decrease in strength of concrete.
 If extra water is not added the concrete after placing may have
large voids.
GREATER PLASTIC SHRINKAGE
• The rate of evaporation increases with increasing
temperature and wind speed and decreasing relative
humidity.
• When freshly placed concrete bleeds, i.e the movement
of water from the inner surface of the concrete
member, this moisture gets dried up quicker than the
speed with which it is replaced by bleeding action.
• This leads to the development of plastic shrinkage
cracks on concrete surface.
FINISHING TIME
• Finishing has to be done as early as possible after
placing due to faster stiffening and quicker
evaporation of water.
• Sometimes, extra fresh mortar is used for finishing
which results in poor performance.
ABSORPTION OF WATER BY SUBGRADE
• In hot weather regions the subgrade or surface of
formwork is normally dry or absorptive.
• The surface of formwork is required to be wetted
before placing the concrete.
• If not done then the water in the concrete may be
lost by absorption by the surface in contact with
concrete resulting in poor quality.
CURING
• Early curing becomes necessary particularly when higher
cement grade is used.
• Continuous effort is required.
• If any lapse then the concrete surface dries up fast and
interrupts the hydration process.
• Once interruption takes place, full strength is not
achieved.
• No doubt, curing entails greater cost of water and labour.
EFFECT OF HIGH CONCRETE TEMPERATURE
• Setting time – as the temperature increases, the
setting time and thus the time to place, compact and
finish the concrete is reduced.
• Workability and slump – reduces the workability of
concrete rapidly with time.
• Durability – main principle is to achieve a less
permeable concrete which intend can be achieved
with low water cement ratio.
Contd..
• Compressive strength – high water demand and high
temp could lead to reduced 28 day strength.
• Thermal cracking – concrete is at risk of thermal
cracking when it is first placed
• Plastic shrinkage cracking
• Poor surface appearance
Contd..
 increase the rate of setting and shorten the length
of time within which the concrete can be transported,
placed, and finished.
Setting time can be reduced by 2 or more hours with a
10°C increase in concrete temperature
Cooling Concrete Materials:-

Lower the temperature of concrete materials before

mixing.

The contribution of each material is related to

Temperature.
Specific heat.
Quantity of each material.
adding ice for substituting water in the concrete mix
Supplementary Cementitious Materials:-

The use of supplementary materials (fly ash, ground

granulated blast furnace slag) can help in hot weather
conditions.

These material slow the rate of setting as well as the rate of

slump loss.
Preparation Before Placing:-
 Mixers, chutes, conveyor belts, hoppers, pump lines, and other equipments for
handling concrete should be shaded, painted white, or covered with wet burlap
to reduce solar heat.

 Forms, reinforcing steel, and subgrade should be fogged or sprinkled with cool
water just before concrete is placed.

 Restrict placement of concrete to early morning, evening, or night time hours,

especially in arid climates. This will help in minimizing thermal shrinkage and
cracking of thick slabs and pavements.
Transporting, Placing, and Finishing:-
Prolonged mixing should be avoided.
Should be done as quickly as practical during hot
weather.
If delays occur, stopping mixer and then agitating can
minimize the heat generated by mixing.
Setting of concrete is more rapid in hot weather.
Extra care must be taken with placement techniques to
avoid cold joints.
Temporary sunshades and windbreaks help to minimize
cold joints.
Plastic Shrinkage Cracking :-
 Associated with hot-weather concreting,
 It can occur any time ambient conditions produce rapid evaporation of
moisture from the concrete surface.
 These cracks occur when water evaporates from the surface faster than it can
rise to the surface during the bleeding process.
 Rapid drying shrinkage creates tensile stresses in the surface that often
result in short, irregular cracks.

 Plastic shrinkage cracking increases with:

 Low air temperature
 High concrete temperature
 Low humidity
 High wind speed
Length ranges from 5
to 100 cm

Spaced in an irregular
pattern from 5 to 60
cm
When the rate of evaporation exceeds 1 kg/m2 per hour,
precautionary measures such as windscreens are required
around all sides of concrete elements.

With concrete mixtures containing pozzolans, cracking is

possible if the rate of evaporation exceeds 0.5 kg/m2 per
hour.

Concrete containing silica fume is particularly prone to

plastic shrinkage because bleeding rates are commonly
only 0.25 kg/m2 per hour.
Precautions to Minimize Plastic Shrinkage Cracking:-
 Moisten concrete aggregates that are dry and absorptive.
 Keep the concrete temperature low by cooling aggregates and
mixing water.
 Dampen the subgrade and fog forms prior to placing concrete.
 Erect temporary windbreaks to reduce wind velocity over the
concrete surface.
 Erect temporary sunshades to reduce concrete surface
temperatures.
 Protect the concrete with temporary coverings, such as
polyethylene sheeting, during any appreciable delay between
placing and finishing.
 Add plastic fibers to the concrete mixture to help reduce plastic
shrinkage crack formation.
Use of a fog spray will raise the relative humidity of
the ambient air over the slab, thus reducing
evaporation from the concrete.
Fog nozzles atomize water using air pressure.
Spray application of temporary moisture-retaining
films (usually polymers).
Reduction of time between placing and the start of
curing by eliminating delays during construction.
Admixtures:-

A retarding admixtures can be very helpful in delaying

the setting time, despite increased rate of slump loss
resulting from their use.

A hydration control admixture can be used to stop cement

hydration and setting. As a general rule a 5°C to 9°C
temperature rise per 45 kg of Portland cement can be
expected from the heat of hydration.