Curing of Concrete Pavements to Control Thermal Stresses

The main goal of curing is to protect the young concrete against drying out. These investigations indicate, that concrete temperatures during the first day of hardening are decisive for the magnitude of thermal stresses of the hardened concrete and the related cracking risk. High thermal tensile stresses occur, if the pavement surface hardens on sunny summer days at high surface temperatures, e.g. when curing is done with a curing compound or foil sheets only. If wet curing is done, cooling due to evaporation occurs which results in low hardening temperatures and low thermal stresses. By that also the risk of nrnnking is reduced which improves long-term properties and durability of the pavement.