Is it time to lift?

To determine if tilt-up concrete panels are ready for lifting, estimate

their in-place strength with field-cured, not lab-cured, cylinders

BY TIMOTHY S. FISHER

efore erecting tilt-up con-

B crete panels, you must allow

them to gain enough
strength to withstand lifting
stresses. Erecting panels be-
fore they achieve the proper
strength can lead to damage, costly
repairs and even serious accidents.
But how do you know when the re-
quired strength has been reached?
Many tilt-up contractors start
erecting panels after the concrete
has cured for a specific time. For ex-
ample, a contractor may cast panels
Monday through Thursday of one
week so all are ready for erection the
following Monday. Other contrac-
tors erect panels after a minimum
seven-day curing period.
But curing time alone isn’t an ac-
curate method for determining in-
place concrete strength. Because
concrete gains strength more slowly
in cold weather and more quickly at
higher temperatures, you may end
up lifting the panels too soon, before
they are strong enough to handle
the loads imposed during erection.
Or the panels may achieve adequate
Martin-Harris Construction

strength sooner than expected while

equipment and personnel wait idly
onsite for a specified curing time to
elapse.
Only reliable testing can produce
accurate estimates of in-place con- Lifting these 10-inch-thick, 36-foot-tall radius tilt-up panels during the construc-
crete strength. The most common tion of a Las Vegas church was a delicate operation for contractor Martin-Harris
testing method makes use of field- Construction. If the panels had been lifted too soon, they could have been dam-
cured cylinders. aged, resulting in costly repairs.
TIME TO LIFT continued
Field- vs. lab-cured
cylinders
Field-cured cylinders are prepared
at the same time as the laboratory-
cured cylinders that are used for ac-
ceptance of a concrete mix. How-
ever, the field-cured specimens are
left onsite until testing, unlike the
lab-cured cylinders, which are re-
moved from the site and taken back
to the lab for moist curing before
testing.
Because lab and field curing con-
ditions differ, lab-cured cylinders
should not be used to estimate the
strength of in-place concrete. Re-
search has shown that strengths of
cylinders protected and cured onsite
to simulate good field practices can
be as much as 15% lower than stan-
dard moist-cured laboratory cylin-
ders. Field-cured cylinders also can
attain higher early strengths if they
are cured at temperatures higher
than the 73° F standard laboratory
curing temperature.
But even field-cured cylinders
won’t provide a good estimate of in-
place concrete strength if they aren’t
handled properly. For the best re-
sults, field-cured cylinders should be:
n Maintained at the same tempera-
ture and moisture environment as
the concrete in the panel. This
means keeping the cylinders un-
der blankets during cold weather
if the panels are protected that
way.
n Stored as near to the panels as
possible.
n Left undisturbed until tested.
Proper use of field-cured
cylinders
When scheduling a tilt-up job,
have the concrete producer give you
compressive-strength test results at
one, three and seven days for the
concrete to be supplied. You can use
the results to estimate testing times
for field-cured cylinders. These re-
sults will also help you determine if
the required lift strength (see box on
this page) will be reached in the
time frame allowed by the project
schedule. If not, concrete mix ad-
justments can be made so low breaks
Field-cured cylinders can provide accurate estimates of in-place concrete strength,
leading to safer, more profitable tilt-up jobs. Remember to keep cylinders covered
to prevent moisture evaporation.
don’t delay the lift. required strength or if any of the
During the panel pour, have the cylinders are damaged. You may also
lab make at least six field-cured need to test these cylinders if the re-
cylinders plus the required lab-cured sults from the first test are low or if
cylinders. The six cylinders should you don’t think the results are accu-
be made for each day’s pour, each rate. As the project progresses and
different mix used in the panels or your time-of-test estimates become
each 150 cubic yards of concrete de- more consistent, you can cut back
livered. Be sure the lab technician on the number of field-cured cylin-
marks the cylinder mold with the ders taken. However, in case of low
panel number or location corre- breaks, never make fewer than four
sponding to the panel being poured cylinders.
with that truckload of concrete.
Each test result is the average of Assessing strength
two cylinders. Thus with six cylin- uniformity
ders, you can make three tests. The Cylinders taken from one truck-
first test should be done after the es- load of concrete often are used to
timated curing time obtained from judge concrete from many truck-
the producer’s early breaks has loads that have been placed in nu-
passed, though you may need to ad- merous panels. For example, let’s say
just the timing if the cylinders are cylinders are made from one 10-yard
exposed to hot or cold weather. The truckload of concrete for each 150
other two sets of cylinders can be cubic yards delivered, and each
tested if the first set doesn’t meet the panel being poured takes 15 cubic
What strength is required to lift?
The required strength of a tilt-up panel before erection can be found in
the project specifications or contract drawings. Manufacturers of lifting in-
serts also require that the concrete reach a certain strength to ensure the
capacity of their hardware. One manufacturer, for example, requires a
compressive strength of at least 3000 psi before panel erection. However,
not all insert manufacturers require the same compressive strength, so
check with your supplier or detailer. If the project specifications and the
manufacturer’s minimum compressive strength differ, the greater of the
two must be met before erection can start.
yards. This means 10 panels will be
erected based on the test results of
one batch of concrete.
If there are concerns about batch-
to-batch variations in concrete
strength, use a combination of test
results from field-cured cylinders
and from nondestructive testing
methods such as a rebound hammer
(ASTM C 805, “Standard Test
Method for Rebound Number of
Hardened Concrete”). To judge the
uniformity of panel strength, obtain
an average rebound number for the
panel made with concrete from the
truck represented by field-cured
cylinders. Next, get average rebound
numbers for the other panels and
compare them with the average for
the first panel tested.
Conduct three rebound tests on
each panel (10 readings for each
test), and average the three results. If
the average rebound number for any
panel is three points lower than the
reference panel average rebound
number, there’s a 95% probability
that the concrete in that panel is dif-
ferent from that in the reference
panel. If the field-cured-cylinder test
results for the reference panel only
slightly exceed the required lift
strength, you may want to give any
questionable panels another day or
so of curing and recheck the re-
bound number before lifting.
Rebound numbers aren’t intended
as an alternative to determining con-
crete strength with test cylinders.
But the numbers are a useful supple-
ment to field-cured-cylinder test
results and can help you better esti-
mate the proper lifting time. How-
ever, some engineers may not allow
this use of the rebound hammer, so
be sure the engineer on your project
approves of this method before you
rely on it.
Acknowledgment
This article is adapted from a story ap-
pearing in The Concrete Facts (Novem-
ber/December 1997), published by
Baker Concrete Construction Inc., Mon-
roe, Ohio. Tim Fisher is a project engi-
neer for Baker and a former field-engi-
neering editor for Concrete
Construction.
Publication #C99A035
Copyright© 1999, The Aberdeen Group
a division of Hanley-Wood, Inc.
All rights reserved