What does a concrete cooling system look like?

In general each concrete cooling system for dam construction and for mass concrete consists of the following components:

Water Chilling Plant for the total amount of mixing water

Cold Water Tank with Pumping Station

Flake Ice Plant

Flake Ice Storage with fully-automatic Ice Rake and Discharge System

Flake Ice Delivery

Flake Ice Weighing

Aggregate Cooling System

Post-Cooling of the concrete

Of course, there are always different options available for each component.

Temperature-Controlled Concrete:

Supplying temperature-controlled concrete for the construction of large dams is a must all over the world. The development of the strength inconcrete is accompanied by evolution of heat as the cement cures and hardens (heat of hydration). In small structures this phenomenon is not of importance, but very significant in mass concrete especially for dam projects.

The heat of hydration raises the temperature during the curing process by up to 25° causing an increase of volume. After the curing the concrete cools down again reducing its volume and thus naturally causing cracks eventually. Therefore the initial pouring temperature should be lowered so much that the maximum temperature during the curing process does not exceed a certain temperature determined by the consultants.

Even though the required pouring temperatures of the concrete vary from site to site and from country to country (from +7°C to max. 15°C) there is always a requirement for a sophisticated refrigeration system.

As the initial and the running costs for such a refrigeration system are quite high (they even can be higher than the ones of the concrete batching plant itself) it is essential for the contractor to have an optimised system installed.