Title: Maturing Concrete – Designing for anchorage before 28 days.

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Publication: CIA

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Date: 2/13/2011

Abstract:
This paper explores the issue of utilising concrete properties, primarily strength, well before the concrete reaches the accepted design plateau at 28 days - particularly early strengths in the range from 8MPa to 15MPa. Current trends in construction, driven largely by the popularity of precast concrete and the savings in construction-time it offers, indicate that this topic is already being exploited yet any supporting research does not appear to extend much beyond established concrete material data relating to predictable hydration / strength gain behaviour. Accordingly, there seems to be even less guidance from current Australian Standards relating to either testing or design, specifically AS3600 (Concrete Structures), AS3850 (Tilt-up Concrete Construction). In-house research by the authors of existing anchor systems in typical concrete elements suggests some useful & reliable conclusions to assist designers and builders in the absence of established technical standards so that anchorage into maturing concrete can be exploited safely with confidence.