National Concrete Pavement Technology Center

Project description

This project will focus on optimizing time dependent strains for concrete repair. Initial focus will be on developing laboratory concrete mixtures for repairs using pre-saturated lightweight aggregate to take advantage of internal curing because of its documented reduced shrinkage. Furthermore, mineral and chemical admixtures will be investigated to enhance concrete properties such as: high early strength, creep, shrinkage, tensile strength and adhesion. Testing will include compressive and tensile creep, shrinkage, and strength and durability testing, all following the available ASTM standard. Additionally, small scale mock repairs will be produced with similar geometry to those in the field and monitored at the Utah State University Materials Lab, and finite element models will be developed to investigate additional simulated repair performance based on the materials testing. Finally, upon selecting candidate field mixtures and candidate field repairs, in-service monitoring will be performed on Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) projects with control and developed admixtures.