New perspectives on maturity method and approach for high performance concrete applications

This paper presents a maturity concept and approach of applying the maturity method for predicting the development of mechanical properties of high-performance concrete over time. An examination of the activation energy and assumptions taken in the developmental process of the existing maturity method is first presented to better understand the capabilities and limitations of the maturity method, which is supported by new and existing experimental evidence. A practical approach is then proposed in which the activation energy is determined mathematically by minimizing the error between the predictions and experimental data. It is based on a new concept that the same maturity is defined only when different specimens of the same concrete have achieved the same level of a specified property under different curing temperatures. This concept makes the maturity approach more robust and more general for application to different concrete mix formulations and different types of property. The accuracy and feasibility of the proposed approach were successfully confirmed by experimental evidence.