Concrete Capillarity under Different Curing Conditions Produced in Kurdistan-Iraq

This study discussed the effect of the curing condition on the capillary water absorption of concrete incorporating the locally available materials. The compressive strength and ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) as part of mechanical and durability properties of concrete were also investigated. The engineering properties were conducted on concrete under three different curing conditions at different curing ages of 2 days, 7 days and 28 days. The three different curing conditions were water curing, dry curing and gunny-covered curing. According to the results obtained, the concrete under water curing condition demonstrated a lower capillary water absorption (CWA) at 2 and 7 days ages and the concrete under gunny-covered condition demonstrated lower CWA at 28 days of age, compared with the other curing conditions. It is interesting to see that the compressive strength (38 MPa) of concrete was almost the same at 28 days age under the gunny-covered and water curing conditions.