THERMAL AND MECHANICAL-BEHAVIOR OF MASS C ONCRETE DURING CURING

The paper presents the main results obtained from experimental and num erical investigations of the thermal and mechanical behaviors observed during curing of a massive concrete element made with type 20M cement . An experimental concrete block 920 mm in diameter and 1000 mm in thi ckness was instrumented with thermocouples and vibrating-wire strain g ages in order to monitor the early age behavior of mass concrete. A nu merical model was used to predict the temperature field that occurs in the concrete element upon hydration of cement. The modeling of the me chanical behavior was achieved using a law that accounts for autogenou s shrinkage. The experimental results illustrate the importance of sel ecting the type of cement for use in mass concrete. The data provided by the numerical models are in good agreement with the experimental re sults.