Solar Radiation-Induced Temperature Variation of Concrete Bridge Piers

The dynamic temperature field of a concrete pier is actively studied in this study with the aiding of the commercial package ANSYS. Thermal boundary conditions are utilized to obtain the temperature distribution of the concrete bridge pier. The surface temperature of the pier is measured by using a thermal infrared imager at different time instant. The ambient temperature and wind velocity are also collected at the same time. The made observations demonstrate that the simulated temperature variation of the concrete pier agrees well with measurement results. The thermal gradient of the concrete in the thickness direction is a little large. It is seen that the numerical models can successfully predict the structural temperature field at different time. The methodology employed in the paper can be applied to other concrete bridges as well.