Study on Early Age Concrete’s Compressive Strengths in Unmanaged Curing Condition Using IoT-Based Maturity Monitoring

Abstract

Although accurately estimating the early age compressive strength of concrete is essential for the timely removal of formwork and the advancement of construction processes, it is challenging to estimate it in cool, cold, hot, or unmanaged conditions. Various nondestructive testing methods, including recent IoT-based techniques, have been proposed to determine the compressive strength of concrete. This study evaluates the maturity method using the wireless thermocouple sensor in assessing the early age compressive strength of concrete slabs, particularly those not subjected to watering and protection in a cool environment below 20 °C. For this purpose, wire and wireless thermocouple sensors were installed in reinforced concrete (RC) slabs, whereas wire thermocouple sensors were installed in concrete cylinders. In addition, the compressive strengths of standard-cured cylinders, field-cured cylinders, and core samples extracted from the RC slab were measured. On day 7, the maturity index (M) values for the field-cured cylinders were 7% lower than those of the standard-cured cylinders, and the M values for the RC slabs with wire and wireless sensors were 6% lower. The compressive strengths of the field-cured cylinders and core samples extracted from the RC slabs were 19% and 14% lower than those of the standard-cured cylinders, respectively. Thus, while the difference in M values was 6–7%, the difference in compressive strength was significantly higher, at 14–19%. In a cool environment without watering or protection, the difference in strength can be even greater. Consequently, a commercial IoT-based thermocouple sensor can replace conventional wire sensors and adopt to estimate early age compressive strength of concrete in unmanaged curing condition.