Experimental Study on Compressive Strength of Concrete Under Simple Curing and Encased in Steel Mould

Abstract

This paper presents a comparison and analysis of compressive strength development of normal concrete under three typical simple curing methods: air curing, water immersion curing, plastic film cover curing, and maintained in steel mould. Portland cement with 30% fly ash was used, concrete cubic compressive strength at 28 days and 60 days were tested.  The comparison of experimental results shows that concrete samples applied 7-day water immersion curing and samples maintained in steel moulds up to testing date displayed excellent compressive strength development compared with concrete samples under air curing. This implies core concrete in steel tubular members might develop a higher strength than design assumption based on standard curing procedure. Wrapping concrete with plastic film for more than 7 days as a curing method might delay the concrete strength development in early stage. Water immersion curing for long period may not accelerate concrete compressive strength gain.