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Capillary Pressure Sensor Testing to Identify Curing Regimen in Freshly Placed Bridge Decks
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2021-01-01
[PDF-14.86 MB]
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Edition:Final Report (6/18-1/21)
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Abstract:Early-age plastic shrinkage cracking is a common problem with the construction of concrete bridge decks due to the high surface area-to-volume ratio and exposure to potentially detrimental environmental effects. Curing regimens are utilized to mitigate this cracking risk such as wet burlap-polyethylene sheeting, membrane forming curing compounds, and lithium curing compounds. Capillary pressure in the water filled pores near the surface of the concrete has been shown to correlate to the plastic shrinkage cracking risk of concrete. A new portable system has been developed to measure the capillary pressure that could potentially be used in the field on fresh bridge deck concrete. In this project, individual test slabs were built to test common curing regimens using the capillary pressure sensor system (CPSS). The system contains multiple sensors that contain pressure transducers that measure the capillary pressure changes during the concrete’s plastic stage. Overall, wet burlap-polyethylene sheeting was shown to be the most effective curing regimen, with the lithium curing compound performing similarly to the control slab with no curing regimen applied. Both membrane forming compounds were shown to perform comparatively well, completely mitigating early-age plastic shrinkage cracking in some instances but allowing small shrinkage cracks to form in others. While the CPSS exhibited the ability to show when cracking occurred in most cases, the magnitude of the capillary pressure at which plastic shrinkage cracks formed varied significantly across tests. This variability made the CPSS difficult to recommend as a predictive test method for plastic shrinkage.
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