Somebody was thinking ahead at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1910. Civil engineering professor and later Dean of the College of Engineering, Morton O. Withey (1882-1961), began an experiment on the effect of age and environment on what was then a relatively new building material- concrete. Now, in 2023, a second 100-year batch of experimental castings are coming to completion.

Withey, a 1904 Dartmouth graduate, began casting samples of various compositions of cement, sand and stone in 1910 when he initially cast 450 of the 6 x 12-inch cylinders. He cast other sets of samples in 1923 and 1937 for a total of over 2500 cylindrical castings.

According to the Wisconsin State Journal the 1910 samples were tested at the 100 year mark and the 1937 samples were tested at the 50 year mark. A comparison of the 1910 samples revealed that both the samples stored in the air and in water strengthened in similar increments for a time and thereafter the samples stored in water continued to strengthen. Exposure of the dry samples to carbon dioxide lead to chipping. The dry 1910 samples yielded to 75 tons of pressure whereas the wet samples yielded at up to 100 tons of pressure. This disparity is thought to arise from continuous hydration of the water-wet samples.

Since the time when the samples were cast, the chemistry of cement and concrete has changed to where the engineering data is no longer of interest for ongoing work. However, the experiment has broadened the envelop of known properties of various concrete compositions.

A wealth of interesting information on the properties of concrete can be found at the Wikipedia website.