A Proposal of Maturity Function on the Strength Development of Concrete Below the Freezing Point

Abstract

Compressive strength development of concrete is essential for cold weather concreting. It is well known that the strength development of concrete at temperatures below the freezing point is much delayed, however, the evaluation method for sub-zero temperatures has not been shown clearly yet. Therefore, when the average outside air temperature is under freezing point the planning method for cold weather concreting is not clear. This study focused on the effect of temperature on the strength development of concrete under sub-zero conditions by conducting various experiments. As a result, a function is proposed to calculate the maturity below the freezing point. The proposed function could explain the strength development of the concrete exposure in winter.

This paper is the English translation from the authors’ previous work [Taniguchi, M., Katsura, O. and Hama, Y., (2009). “A proposal of maturity function on the strength development of concrete under sub-zero temperature conditions.” Journal of Structural and Construction Engineering (Transactions of AIJ), 74(640), 995-1003. (in Japanese)].