During a construction project, it is very important to know the strength of concrete because it will determine when it is possible to walk on the surface, remove the form-work, or continue building the product. The problem is that concrete strength can be hard to estimate, as the strength of the concrete does not always develop at the same speed. Temperature and weather conditions will affect how fast or slow the strength of a prodcut develops.
Maturity is a concept that relates temperature, time and strength development. Here, we will explain what concrete maturity is, how it is calculated, and how this can be used as a method to estimate concrete strength.
Maturity?
Concrete Maturity represents the combination of time and temperature. It is calculated based on the temperature history of the structure by applying one of three universally accepted funcitons. In its essence, maturity is:
Maturity = time * temperature
The main concept about concrete maturity is that a specific value of maturity can be obtained with many different combinations of time and temperature.
Of course material characteristics, environment and dimensions all influence this theory.
How to use it?
Concrete maturity alone does not indicate how strong the concrete is. However, by using the maturity method, you can determine the relationship between maturity and strength development.
The maturity method is an easy way to estimate the early-age strength development of a concrete mix. The main assumption of the maturity method is that if two samples of the same concrete mix have the same maturity, then they will also have the same strength – even if they were cured under different temperature conditions.
To use the maturity method you will need to perform a calibration, which includes doing tests in a laboratory to find the relationship between the concrete maturity and the concrete’s strength. Once you know this relationship, you can estimate the strength of the in-place concrete by placing temperature sensors in the product. You can find the maturity by looking at the temperature history measured by the temperature sensors, and then determine the in-place strength using the maturity calibration.
Some benefits
During the past decades, the maturity method has proven to be one of the most reliable methods to estimate early in-place concrete strength. The method is simple and highly adaptable for different projects and needs.
Strength estimation in real-time
The use of the maturity method allows you to track the strength development of concrete in real-time. This will give you valuable information about how the concrete is curing.
Better project planning
Changes in weather or temperature can make it challenging to predict when the concrete is strong enough to proceed to the next step. By using the maturity method, the risk of starting too early or too late is limited to a minimum, avoiding unnecessary delays and reducing product waste.
Automatic documentation
Many of the workers’ hours are wasted every day on manual data collection and documentation.
The strength estimation can be done much smarter by using maturity systems. This will make all the calculations and create the documentation automatically, saving time and cutting costs on these labour intensive tasks.