Analysis on influencing factors for temperature control of concrete surrounding spiral case of hydropower station

Abstract

The spiral case and its surrounding concrete (SCSC) are critical structural components and primary load-bearing elements for hydropower generation, necessitating stringent safety and reliability measures. The SCSC is a mass concrete structure, with temperature control typically achieved through water pipe cooling during construction period. This study employs grey relation analysis (GRA) to investigate the effects of ambient temperature, pouring temperature, cooling temperature, and cooling water pipe layout on the poured SCSC. The study demonstrates that using concrete with a low initial temperature, appropriate cooling water, and a specified cooling duration during construction period effectively mitigates the temperature rise caused by hydration heat, regulates the temperature gradient, and improves the temperature-control performance of the concrete during construction. Furthermore, the correlation degrees obtained through grey correlation analysis are used as weight coefficients in the objective function. The established objective function is solved using optimization algorithms, thereby transforming the cooling parameter inversion problem into a mathematical optimization problem. This approach enables the inverse determination of various cooling system parameters and facilitates intelligent cooling system design. This study addresses the problem of water pipe cooling in mass concrete from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. The findings provide theoretical guidance and technical references for the cooling design and safety evaluation of concrete structures surrounding the spiral case.