Freeze-thaw damage evaluation and model creation for concrete exposed to freeze–thaw cycles at early-age

Abstract

Concrete subjected to freeze–thaw cycles action at early-age will suffer serious physical damage, resulting in degradation of the concrete’s performance. The subsequent curing conditions after early-age freeze–thaw cycles (E-FTCs) are critical to the development of the properties of frost-damaged concrete. Four test environments were set up for this study, based on different numbers of E-FTCs and subsequent curing conditions. The later-age resistance to freeze–thaw of concrete exposed to E-FTCs was evaluated by analysing the influence of precuring times and curing conditions. Results show that the earlier the FTCs occur, the worse the later-age freeze–thaw resistance is. In particular, for the frost-damaged concrete with a pre-curing time of 18 h, its freeze–thaw resistance is significantly