Cracks in concrete structures: strategy and further action

Hayman S. Ahmed

Why concrete cracks?

-PRINCIPALLY he tensile strength of the concrete has
been exceeded due to either an induced action or an
applied one.
-In other word, Strain = change in length original
length. Hence there is movement of some form the
movement MAY be damaging/harmful?
the maximum crack width that can be permitted to
develop is 0.3mm. BS EN 1992-3 concerns water
retaining structures and their limits on crack widths are
reduced to a range between 0.05 and 0.2mm.
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Assess the significance

- Do the cracks affect structural integrity and/or robustness?
- Is there a loss of moment capacity or shear strength?
-Does urgent action need to be taken (propping or closure)?
-Will they result in poor performance (e.g. leakage from a water
tank)?
-Do they present a health hazard (e.g. radiation leakage from a
nuclear reactor vessel)
-Are they acceptable aesthetically? Will the cracks result in
deterioration (e.g. corrosion)?
-Is the structure showing the early signs of failure?
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TYPES OF
CRACKING
STRUCTURAL CRACKING

NON-STRUCTURAL
CRACKING

THERMAL CRACKING

NON-STRUCTRAL
CRACKING
Plastic settlement
1-re-vibrating
2-stop bleeding by admixture

Plastic shrinkage

1-appropriately troweled
and/or floated
2-prevent the bleed water
from evaporating too
quickly

NON-STRUCTRAL
CRACKING
Crazing (map cracking)
Rick mixes over travelling, poor curing

Improve curing and finishing

Thermal contraction cracks

concrete cooling down from the peak temperature ambient

temperature

1-limiting the peak temperature

2-providing steel reinforcement
3-providing construction joints

edge restraint, end restraint, internal restraint

NON-STRUCTRAL
CRACKING
Long term drying shrinkage
Caused by insufficient joints

1-reduce water content

2-improve curing

Corrosion of reinforcement
inadequate cover, poor quality
concrete

Eliminating the causes

Alkali aggregate reaction

Reactive aggregate and high alkali cement

Eliminating the causes

Plastic settlement

Evaluation

Plastic shrinkage

Crazing

Alkali-silica
Early thermal reaction
contraction

Long-term drying shrinkage

Corrosion of reinforcement
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QUESTIONS