Numerical simulation of temperature and stress development in high-strength concrete columns

This paper presents the development of a computational program to predict the temperature and stress distribution in high-strength concrete columns. The numerical simulation procedure starts with the Tomosawa’s hydration model which makes possible the simulation of hydration under any changing temperature. The coefficients for the hydration model are estimated using an artificial neural network technique. Temperature distribution is calculated first based on a three-dimensional mesh. Thereafter, the composite stress due to thermal and autogenous shrinkage strains is calculated using a three-dimensional finite element analysis and the risk of cracking within high-strength concrete columns, subjected to a temperature history, is investigated. Predicted temperature and stress curves are in good agreement with experimental data.