Who Uses Maturity?

Why Should I Use Maturity?
Our COMMAND Center maturity method saves time, money and effort by providing reliable strength estimates quickly, and requires breaking fewer beams or cylinders.

Your strength estimates come “live” from the jobsite, rather than from a laboratory that may have different curing conditions.

Is the Maturity Method new?
Maturity concepts have been around for over 50 years, but it wasn't until the 1970’s that a string of fatal construction disasters motivated engineers and researchers to refine the technique for use in routine construction.

In the spring of 1973, a multi-story apartment building collapsed during construction in Fairfax County, Virginia. Why did it fail? The forms were removed before the concrete had gained sufficient strength, despite four days of curing. The unfortunate incident claimed fourteen lives and injured 34 others.

Five years later, fifty-one workers were killed when a cooling tower crashed to the ground while under construction in Willow Island, WV. Once again, the structure failed because the concrete had not gained sufficient strength to support the loads.

At the time, there was no readily available means for estimating the in-place strength of concrete. Once interest in the maturity method was sparked, researchers noticed that these failures were more likely when the concrete on the jobsite cured at much lower temperatures (7-10°C or 45-50°F) than those at which the laboratory specimens were cured.

Researchers found that maturity accounts for the temperature differences between the laboratory specimens and in-place concrete structures. This is key because the age and temperature history of concrete correlates to strength development. In addition, early-age temperatures are related to the final strength and performance of concrete structures. Implementing maturity methods help in sequencing construction operations and makes construction safer and more cost-efficient.

The need for a procedure to make reliable estimates of in-place strength was realized with the approval of ASTM C 1074, in 1987. This specification was the first to apply the maturity method.

Maturity History Timeline

• Effects on temperature are first noted.

• Concrete maturity is first identified.
• Nurse-Saul Method is first published.
• Most commonly used in the U.S.

• Arrhenius Method (equivalent age) is identified for concrete.
• Most commonly used outside the U.S.

• The Transtec Group offers The COMMAND Center for maturity.