Improvements of curing operations for Portland cement concrete pavement

Abstract

Curing of concrete has substantial effects on the performance of Portland cement concrete (PCC) pavement. The effectiveness of membrane-forming curing compound depends on the quality of curing materials, time of curing compound application in relation to bleeding and evaporation, and amount and uniformity of curing materials applications. This study presents the efforts to develop simple compliance testing for application rate and uniformity. Compliance testing was based on the speed control of a curing machine utilizing a non-contact Doppler radar speed sensor and wireless data logger system. The findings from trial implementations of this method in PCC paving projects include: (1) speed control of a curing machine could be the most practical and simplest method for compliance testing; (2) Doppler sensor and wireless data logger showed fairly good performance and can be an effective and practical curing compliance testing system; and (3) as wind speed increases, the loss of curing compound tends to increase nearly proportionally.