HPC-09 v6 - Predictability is Everything: Automate Precast Concrete Curing
HPC-09 v6 Controls Bed Heating, when used, and Calculates necessary Concrete Pouring Temperature (Ts) which can be used as input to Mixing Stations / Automation Equipment supporting Ts as an input Parameter.
Predictability is everything: If you cannot Predict the Temperature and Strength development of the produced elements then:
- You can not Plan a tight Production Schedule; you have to accommodate for uncertainty.
- You do not know exactly what Pouring Temperature and / or amount of Bed Heat to use to meet your deadlines.
- You can not be certain that your Concrete Mix is ok: Hard to Detect Discrepancies.
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- You can not Trust the Maturity (Strength) Calculation!
- It is difficult to see the effect of changes (corrective actions) to the Concrete Mix.
To compensate for these problems, more cement and / or higher Pouring Temperature and more Bed Heat than necessary is often used. The result is larger than necessary temperature gradients with higher risk of cracking. The resulting CO2 Footprint is high, resulting in high associated government dues (taxes).
Further, it is difficult to exploit Production Capacity to the outmost without a good tool to plan the production.
HPC-09 v6 has a solid Prediction Engine that serves as a good tool to solve these problems!
Mastering the problems above using HPC-09 v6, spells substantial money savings!
Red Graph: HPC-09 v6 Corrected Predicted Temperature: Green Graph: Actual Measured Temperature.
Of course, the Compressive Strength Prediction is the ultimate goal:
Red Graph: HPC-09 v6 Corrected Predicted Strength: Green Graph: Actual Calculated (Real-Time) Strength.
Comparing HPC-09 Strength Calculations to Compressive Strength measured on Cubes or Cylinders typically gives a Standard Deviation of 2 MPa: This deviation represents both uncertainties in the Cube tests, production variations and uncertainty in the Strength calculations
The Temperature Gradients across the Slab (element) must be kept below a certain limit to avoid cracking. HPC-09 v6 documents the Gradients:
Red Graph: Slab Bottom Temperature. Yellow Graph: Slab Center Temperature . Blue Graph: Slab Lifting Zone Temperature. Black Graph: Max Difference (Gradient).
HPC-09 v6 also calculates 3D Temperature and Strength Gradients as is shown below:
HPC-09 v6 3D Temperature Gradient at the time when the gradient is at its largest!
HPC-09 v6 3D Strength at the time when the Target Strength of 35 MPa is met at the middle top center of the slab.
