Reducing temperature difference in mass concrete by surface insulation

The heat which is produced in the cement hydration is rather high in mass concrete structures like dams, pavements, piers. In fact, it takes a longer time to cool the inner of the mass than its surface. The main reason for this result is that having the temperature difference between the hot inner mass and its cooled surface. Such a gap like that is the cause of appearing a large number of cracks in the surface of the mass concrete at several days age. In this study, the application of using a sand-layer insulation to control mass concrete block cracks at an early age. Specifically, these processes are performed by the program Midas Civil 2017 in cases: without sand-layer insulation, and with the application of using sand-layer insulation have thickness in range of 0–7 cm for heat preservation. In conclusion, the results in this study showed that when using an insulation thickness of 7 cm, it led to that the maximum temperature differences between the surface and the center of mass concrete block is lower than the limitation. The recommendations made as a result of this study is that sand-layer insulation should be used to prevent and limit cracks of the mass concrete block at an early age.