Reducing Curing Requirements for Pervious Concrete with a Superabsorbent Polymer for Internal Curing

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a research project to investigate reducing the need for curing pervious concrete under plastic by incorporating a superabsorbent polymer (SAP) normally intended for internal curing. Pervious concrete samples were produced with and without the SAP along with additional curing water. Compressive strength, unit weight, voids, and permeability testing was performed on hardened cylinders. Shrinkage was determined on beams for total and autogenous deformation with restrained ring testing. Moisture loss was determined with a modified version of the standard used to evaluate curing compounds, followed by rotary cutter surface abrasion. Field test sections were placed and cured under plastic or left open. The results show that mixtures containing the SAP had better workability and were stronger at equal void contents. The mixture containing the SAP had reduced shrinkage, moisture loss, and abrasion. After one winter, the uncured SAP field mixture had performance equal to the control mixture cured under plastic. Although preliminary, the results show that SAP has good potential to reduce curing requirements for pervious concrete under many environmental conditions.