Modeling of Temperature Profiles in a Concrete Slab under Climatic Exposure

Effects of surrounding climate give temperature variations in both time and space for concrete structures. The associated thermal strains may give rise to stresses and cracking due to external or internal restraint. This will affect the performance of the structure. It is therefore important to analyze the temperature variations and the extreme situations that can occur. To predict the dynamic thermal conditions in concrete structures a finite element model has been developed. The ability of the model to describe various boundary conditions such as solar radiation, outgoing long-wave radiation and convection correctly is investigated in this paper. Field temperature measurements in a concrete slab placed outdoor are used for the validation. The necessary climatic input data for the model were obtained from measurements in the vicinity of the slab. The results show that the model can describe the effects from different climatic factors in extreme situations with good accuracy and is well suited to use in further studies. (Less)