This research identifies innovative methods to overcome the current hurdles that exist to adopting concrete mixtures with higher volumes of fly ash (HVFA). The provision of internal curing may be beneficial in HVFA mixtures since it provides water for longer time periods so fly ash can further react.

The figure on the left shows the differences between external and internal curing. While external curing water can penetrate just a few millimeters from the exposed surface due to depercolation (pores disconnection that normally occurs in low w/c mixtures), internal curing provides water throughout the matrix.