Determining the adiabatic temperature rise of concrete by inverse analysis: case study of a spillway gate pier.

This paper presents a method to find the adiabatic temperature rise of concrete by retro-analysing temperatures measured in the field. The construction phase is simulated with a 3D finite-element model that considers the coupling between thermal and chemical phenomena due to cement hydration. A genetic algorithm is used to find the main parameters that characterise the adiabatic temperature curve and that better fit the temperatures measured in the field for a given structure. This method was applied to the construction of the spillway gate pier of a hydroelectric power plant. The good agreement between numerical results and temperature measurements points to the feasibility of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]