Although being a very promising area of concrete technology, computational modeling of fresh concrete flow is a comprehensive and time consuming task. The complexity and required computation time are additionally increased when simulating casting of heavily reinforced sections, where each single reinforcement bar has to be modeled. In order to improve the computation speed and to get closer to a practical tool for simulation of casting processes, an innovative approach to model reinforced sections is proposed here. The basic idea of this approach is to treat the reinforcement zone as a porous medium in which a concrete is propagating. In the present paper, the numerical implementation of this concept is described. A methodology allowing for the computation of the equivalent permeability of the steel bars network is suggested. Finally, this numerical technique efficiency is evaluated by a comparison with experimental results of model fluids casting in model formworks.
Varying ambient temperatures in plants or on construction sites during casting of SCC can cause serious problems affecting the fresh concrete performances, such as rheological properties and setting time, with consequences for the hardened properties in the structure. By sensible choices of the components, the robustness of SCC mixtures against temperature variations can be improved. However, this aspect has not been the focus of intensive research yet. In this study the effects of varied ambient temperatures on the early performance of differently composed SCC mixtures are investigated, with emphasis on changes in rheology, early deformations, heat evolution and setting. Focus is placed on the study of the influence of the polycarboxylate ether molecule type as well as different viscositymodifying agents on the temperature robustness. Effects on the relevance for practical concrete applications are evaluated, which will provide a reliable framework of possible actions on the appropriate use of admixtures for SCC.