• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.4602-4609
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• 2013

In summer and winter, the difference between the temperature during the day and that during the night is high, which leads to various problems during concrete placement, such as cracks and defects in the concrete as well as low durability and strength. Although nuclear power plant concrete is widely used for placement in all seasons, particular attention must be paid to its quality during the summer. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of a cooling method for mixing water, which is a commonly used hot weather precooling method, and the use of a retarder, on the characteristics of Nuclear Power Plant concrete. In the cooling method for mixing water, cold water at 5 was used, with 50% of the water content consisting of ice flakes. The effects of using a retarder were evaluated by reviewing the characteristics of the cement at the unset stage and after hardening. To evaluate the characteristics of the unset cement, we measured the slump, air volumes, setting times, and pressure strengths after hardening. Furthermore, we measured the heat of hydration at different temperatures; the loss of heat was minimized using insulation. Both the slump time and the complete ageing time of the air volume were found to be 120 min at $20^{\circ}C$ and 40 min at $40^{\circ}C$. In the case when the cooling method for mixing water was used and in the case when a retarder was used, the initial and final sets by penetration resistance were delayed, and the delay decreased with increasing air temperature. For the heat of hydration, the cooling method for mixing water not only lowered the maximum temperature but also delayed its attainment. However, the use of a retarder had no effect on the maximum temperature. Moreover, in the early ages (e.g., 3 and 7 days), the pressure strength of the concrete was lower than that of plain cement. However, the strength of 28-day concrete met the standard construction specifications.