Thermal cracking and damage from high internal temperatures during construction are concerns for the mass concrete of dams, bridges, buildings, and power plants. The design, planning and execution of placements which involve mass and thermally controlled concrete must consider hydration of cementitious materials within the concrete mixture to avoid thermal-related distress. Without such considerations, durability, and in some cases, structural integrity can be affected. This Special Publication is intended to help owners, designers, contractors, and concrete suppliers understand and address concerns with mass and thermally controlled concrete.

To highlight state-of-the-art developments in defining, designing, testing and modeling mass and thermally controlled concrete, American Concrete Institute (ACI) Committee 207 and the Japan Concrete Institute (JCI) held a full-day technical session at the ACI Fall Convention, Cincinnati, Ohio, October 16-20, 2011. This Special Publication (SP) contains eight of the papers presented at the technical session. The subjects of these papers include: (1) defining mass and thermally controlled concrete (2) design and planning considerations for mass concrete, (3) modeling and prediction of in-place concrete temperature development, and (4) physical testing of mass concrete.