Early age performance and mechanical characteristics of concrete which is used in service buildings

Concrete has an important place in the construction industry and widespread use of concrete requires to be searched and examined in every aspect. Concrete generally reaches its characteristic strength within 28 days. But, as a result of the hydration process, concrete gains certain quantities of strength in earlier days. The longtime performance of reinforced concrete buildings, is affected greatly by the quality and behaviour of concrete at early ages. However, the basic mechanisms affecting the early age behaviour of concrete have not yet been fully understood. The research subject of this thesis is investigating the early age compressive strength of concrete, which is one of the mechanical properties of concrete. Exclusively, it is important to investigate the early age compressive strength of concrete that is used in the large-scale service buildings and to make suggestions about formwork removal time. To achieve this aim, compressive strength tests were performed on samples of C25/30 and C30/37 concrete classes which are used in GIHC (Gaziantep Integrated Health Campus) project, in different days (3, 7 and 28). Test results were examined according to relevant standards and the relationship between early age, characteristic and realized compressive strength of concrete, is given. As a result of this analysis, it was observed that capacity of early age concrete is reached average 45% (3 days) and 70% (7 days) and possible advantages of concrete capacity are evaluated.