A new sustainable system for piped water cooling of mass concrete structures

Abstract

In mass concrete casting applications/structures, the heat evolved during the hydration process at early ages may not dissipate appropriately due to the large size of the pours and the low thermal conductivity of concrete. Embedded pipe cooling systems for circulating water are frequently used for heat removal (control the temperature rise) from the interior of the concrete mass. However, in current practice and design of post-cooling applications, the piping for cooling remains within the concrete permanently, even though the need for cooling only exists during the construction phase. This paper presents and discusses the development of a pipe cooling system in which the initial pipe, used to establish the hole for circulation of water, can be removed a few hours after casting. Despite the removal of the initial pipe, water can be circulated through a flexible sleeve placed within the remaining concrete cavity. The novelty of such an approach is that all the components and materials during such process are fully reusable which makes the methodology sustainable with important cost-saving and less carbon emission impacts associated with the pipe cooling in mass concrete structures.