The study developed mitigation techniques to control the in place temperature development of early-age concrete. Longer lasting PCC pavements will be produced if the assumptions made during design are achieved in the field. This study proposes a method to integrate the design assumptions to the construction process by means of an end-result temperature control specification. A general hydration model for cementitious materials and a model to predict the temperature gain in hardening concrete is developed and calibrated. The temperature prediction model was calibrated for field conditions with data collected from seven concrete paving projects. The model accounts for different pavement thicknesses, mixture proportions, cement chemical composition, cement fineness, amount of cement, mineral admixtures, material types, climatic conditions, and different construction scenarios. The temperature prediction model will enable the development of performance based specifications to guard against premature concrete failures. This model will further provide the designer, contractor, and specification developer with the means to evaluate and quantify the effect of most of the various complex interactions that affect the concrete temperature development during early-ages.

Early-age cracking, typically caused by drying shrinkage (and often coupled with autogenous and thermal shrinkage), can have several detrimental effects on long-term behavior and durability. Cracking can also provide ingress of water that can drive chemical reactions, such as alkali-silica reaction (ASR) and sulfate attack. Because of the problems associated with cracking observed in bridge decks, and the impact of early-age cracking on long-term performance and durability, it is imperative that bridge decks be constructed with minimal early-age cracking and that exhibit satisfactory long-term performance and durability. To achieve these goals for bridges in the state of Texas, a research team has been assembled that possesses significant expertise and background in cement chemistry, concrete materials and durability, structural performance, computational mechanics (finite difference/element), bridge deck construction and maintenance, monitoring of in-site behavior of field structures, and the development of test methods and specifications aimed at practical implementation by state highway departments. This proposal describes a laboratory- and field-based research program aimed at developing a bridge deck cracking model that will ultimately be integrated into ConcreteWorks, a suite of software programs developed for TxDOT by this same research team.