Minimum curing time for preventing frost damage of early-age concrete

摘要

When fresh concrete is exposed to extremely low temperatures, the free water in the concrete is cooled below its freezing point and transforms into ice, leading to a decrease in the compressive strength of concrete. When freezing takes place after an adequate curing time, the decrease in compressive strength does not occur. In other words, the concrete can resist the frost damage. Of the many influencing factors, the age of concrete at the beginning of freezing and curing temperatures is significantly important with regard to the loss of compressive strength. In this study, tests were performed to examine how these factors affect the compressive strength of concrete frozen at early-ages as well as to investigate the source of frost damage in fresh concrete. The results from the tests showed that the loss of compressive strength decreases when the onset of freezing was delayed and the curing temperature was high. Moreover, the results showed that the curing temperature after the freezing period does not affect the resistance against frost damage but it affects the strength development. Finally, we propose a new method to predict the minimum curing time based on the development theory of frost resistance with decrease of saturation degree of capillary pores and using the hydration degree curves at an early age.