Determining datum temperature and apparent activation energy: an approach for mineral admixtures incorporated cementitious systems

The maturity method is used to predict the strength of concrete by monitoring its temperature history. Accuracy of maturity method relies on the dependable determination of the datum temperature and the apparent activation energy. The current study introduces a new approach, complementing those in ASTM C1074-11, for determining the datum temperature and apparent activation energy. The experimental study involved using two different mineral additives to portland cement at 6%, 20%, and 35% replacement amounts. The mortars were then cured at temperatures of 5, 20, and 40 °C, and their strengths were determined. Subsequently, the datum temperatures and apparent activation energies for these mixtures were calculated using both the proposed approach and the alternatives from ASTM C1074-11. Strength estimations were conducted in conjunction with commonly used maturity functions. The results indicate that the proposed approach determines the datum temperature and apparent activation energy reliably for mineral admixture-incorporated mortars. Furthermore, the predicted strengths, derived from the datum temperature and apparent activation energy calculated through the proposed approach, show a closer alignment with the experimental results when applying the Nurse-Saul and Hansen-Pedersen equations, as opposed to the Rastrup and Weaver-Sadgrove models.