The concrete hardening process should take place in a manner that provides optimum hydration development, which can be achieved through proper curing practices. Curing of concrete is essential at controlling its mechanical and durability performance during service, however, premature deterioration at joints presents a critical durability issue of concrete pavements associated with considerable repair costs. Durability of concrete exposed to aggressive environments depends mainly on the penetrability of its pore structure. Absorption has been used as an important indicator for quantifying the durability of bulk concrete, while the reliability of current absorption test methods with respect to curing efficiency and geometry of joints in concrete pavements is still unexplored. Curing efficiency of joints at early-age may be compromised due to uncontrolled evaporation resulting from saw-cutting processes. Therefore, providing an optimum curing and monitoring its efficiency by a real-time continuous measure is appealing. Also, a quantitative model of unsaturated flow ingress with respect to curing applications may provide a holistic understanding to predict the durability of concrete pavements. Therefore, this thesis aimed at assessing the effect of different curing compound applications on concrete pavements and overfilling joints with curing compound immediately after saw-cutting on improving the quality of concrete microstructure. Also, an effort was made to develop a customized test protocol for determining the absorption capacity of joints in concrete pavements. In addition, this thesis explored the correlation between the dielectric response of real-time sensor embedded in concrete with hydration development of paste as well as setting time. Moreover, this thesis investigated and developed an analytical model based on Katz-Thompson relationship to determine the absorption capacity of joints in concrete pavements according to an absorption test customized to the joint geometry of pavements.

This thesis program involved experiments on cores extracted from constructed field pavement sections and laboratory slabs, and specimens produced from similar concrete under laboratory conditions. Absorption, rapid chloride penetrability, maturity, thermogravimetry, mercury intrusion porosimetry, and scanning electron microscopy tests were conducted on cores/specimens. Also, the absorption trends were modeled based on the unsaturated flow theory with 3D finite element software. The results indicated that applying a thorough coat of curing compound and overfilling the joints with curing compound immediately after late saw-cutting significantly improved the microstructure and durability of joint zones in concrete pavements. The results also revealed that the proposed absorption protocol was efficient, robust and reliable in reflecting the physical features of the microstructure of field pavement sections, including joint locations. In addition, the results showed that the dielectric response of concrete is strongly correlated to the hardening threshold and strength/hydration development of concrete, and thus it may be potentially used as a field indicator for these parameters. Finally, the results indicated that the unsaturated flow model reliably simulated fluid transport at joint locations in concrete with accurate predictions relative to experimental results.