Impact of Drying the Concrete before Its Complete Curing: Plain and Fly Ash–Based Cement Concrete
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 34, Issue 2
Abstract
The present study deals with the severity of delay before carrying out the curing of concrete in hot weather. The effect of delay before curing on the strength and durability of ordinary portland cement concrete (OPCC) and portland pozzolana cement concrete (PPCC) was studied and compared. The strength and durability of the PPCC were observed to be higher when resaturated by water after a delay, especially in case of up to 3 days of delay before curing. The partial resumption of the hydration process was observed in both type of concrete when resaturated after some delay but were observed to be higher in PPCC than OPCC, leading to higher regain in long-term strength and durability. The resaturation promoted the moisture movement and leaching of the calcium hydroxide due to greater space provided by the fly ash particles inside the concrete, which in turn induces the hydration process at a higher rate in PPCC. Therefore, better performance of the PPCC may be expected in a hot and dry environment and where proper curing may be interrupted due to some unavoidable reasons.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
The authors highly acknowledge Mr. A. Yadav, Mr. Y. Singh, and Mr. V. K. Singh for their efforts in material preparation and casting and testing of the specimens in the laboratory.
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Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 34 • Issue 2 • February 2022
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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Jul 15, 2020
Accepted: Mar 2, 2021
Published online: Nov 25, 2021
Published in print: Feb 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Apr 25, 2022
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