Causes and treatments of quadrate concrete pier's crack

The quadrate concrete piers' crack analysis of highway bridge was done in order to research into the causations and effective treatments of common piers' cracks in bridge engineering. According to the crack's distributing pattern and shape feature, what the pier was crazed by temperature effect is taken for the real reason. The finite element analysis software was employed to emulate the possible temperature effect during these piers' first year after construction, in instance of hydration heat effect, solar temperature effect, seasonal temperature effect and temperature drop. Followed parameters analysis supplies some references for the piers' construction and design. Analysis results indicate that: Hydration heat effect and temperature drop are concluded as main crack causes. Circle-section pier is benefit for temperature effect control, and whose section area is inadvisable bigger than 1.9 m2. In piers' construction, the cement content is suggested as 200 to 350 kg/m3 and slag cement 325 or 275 is the priority; 5-15°C is suitable as casting temperature; The curing period is suggested as 3 days. Protective coating can perform well after temperature drop, whose thermal conductivity coefficient should be 4.5 W/(m2·K) at most.