Using COMMAND Center™ to expedite construction schedules can result in bonuses for the contractor and sooner-than-anticipated profits for the owner. Construction teams use COMMAND Center™ maturity monitoring to:
- Strip forms sooner
- Remove shoring sooner
- Post-tension tendons sooner
- Apply construction loads sooner
- Open structures for use sooner
Many specifications will require a construction team to wait until concrete reaches a certain minimum strength or age before moving on to the next phase of construction or opening the project to the public. These specifications intend to minimize the potential for early-age damage to concrete that can result from loading the concrete before it has reached sufficient strength.
In order to meet strength requirements, concrete test specimens are cast in the field, stored in ideal conditions, and tested for compressive strength in a laboratory. However, since larger pours of concrete in the field will often gain strength faster than small test specimens, laboratory tests are not always indicative of in-place concrete strength. This can be attributed to the internal heat generated by larger structures and potentially warmer ambient air temperatures during concrete placement and curing at the job site.
COMMAND Center™ maturity monitoring can estimate in-place concrete strength from its internal temperature history—and is used to prove that concrete elements in the field have achieved required strength sooner than expected. That means that key construction activities—stripping and removing forms and shores, post-tensioning tendons, applying construction loads—can begin much sooner than expected or specified.
The construction industry can benefit from maturity by using it to expedite project schedules and increase the chance of early project completion—which can result in lower project budgets, sizeable bonuses for the general contractor, and early profits for owners.