An Innovative Wireless Sensing Technology for Concrete Curing Quantification

Curing concrete properly is essential for strength gain and durability. While the importance of curing is widely known, all too often curing is not properly executed in practice. This proposal outlines a sensing system that will have three functions:
· to record the weather conditions during the concrete placement.
· to document how the implemented curing impacts a known concrete system.
· to provide an indication of how the curing was performed for a specific application.
The sensor system will be based on demonstrated wireless sensing technology from Weller et al (1). The sensing system is simple in features, inexpensive in parts, physically small and flexible in use. This is an enabling technology for this proposed effort. The sensing system will collect/store data for the purpose of informing ongoing construction practices so that contractors can provide sufficient quality. In addition, this can aid the agency in providing a documented measure of how the contractor provided a level of curing that was compliant with the State Highway Agency (SHA) specifications. This would enhance performance specifications like AASHTO R101 (earlier known as AASHTO PP-84, Performance Engineered Mixtures). Characterization of the concrete curing will be performed using a wireless sensor system.