The National Concrete Pavement Technology Center (CP Tech Center) has published a report and a tech transfer summary titled: “Comparison of Setting Time Measured Using Ultrasonic Wave Propagation with Saw-Cutting Times on Pavements”. At present, there is little fundamental guidance available to assist contractors in choosing when to schedule saw cuts on joints. To conduct pavement finishing and sawing activities effectively, however, contractors need to know when a concrete mixture is going to reach initial set, or when the sawing window will open. Previous research investigated the use of the ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) method to predict the saw-cutting window for early entry sawing. The results indicated that the method has the potential to provide effective guidance to contractors as to when to conduct early entry sawing.
The aim of this project was to conduct similar work to observe the correlation between initial setting and conventional sawing time. Sixteen construction sites were visited in Minnesota and Missouri over a two-year period. At each site, initial set was determined using a p-wave propagation technique with a commercial device. Calorimetric data were collected using a commercial semi-adiabatic device at a majority of the sites. Concrete samples were collected in front of the paver and tested using both methods with equipment that was set up next to the pavement during paving.
The data collected revealed that the UPV method looks promising for early entry and conventional sawing in the field, both early entry and conventional sawing times can be predicted for the range of mixtures tested.
For the report, please click here; and for the tech transfer summary, please click here; or click on the images below.
