Concrete Compressive Strength under Changing Environmental Conditions during Placement Processes

Abstract

The technological process of concrete production consists of several parts, including concrete mix design, concrete mix production, transportation of fresh concrete mix to a construction site, placement in concrete framework, and curing. Proper execution of these steps provides good quality concrete. Some factors can disturb the technological process, mainly temperature and excessive precipitation. Changing daily temperature and rainfall during fabrication, transportation, and placement can shape not only the properties of the concrete mix but also the compressive strength of hardened concrete. In this paper, we tried to answer the question of how temperature and precipitation affect concrete production. The scope of this study was to determine the change of compressive strength of the hardened concrete in a specific period for selected concrete mix recipes, taking into account changing daily temperature and precipitation magnitude. The investigated concrete mixes concrete compressive strength beyond that of the concrete grade, termed “concrete superstrength”. This concrete post limiting behaviour of concrete is also discussed.