Crack Control

Anchor Dairy Factory, Te Rapa, 1999

Enhancing the service life of concrete structures through the control of cracking Why the control of concrete cracks is important Tensile Cracking of Concrete Preparation of Subgrade and Formwork Construction Joints Technical data
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Crack Control
Figure 1 Types

Structural location of different types of cracks

Location or Direction
Diagonal

Likely Element
Slabs Reinforced Slabs Reinforced Slabs Deep Sections Top of Columns Suspended Floor Walls or Slabs

Primary Cause

Secondary Cause

Time of appearance

Reference

1 Rapid Evaporation Low rate of bleeding 30 minutes to 6 hours

Plastic Shrinkage

Random Over Reinforcement Over Reinforcement

2 3 4

Plastic Settlement

Arching over columns Change of depth External Constraint

Bleeding

10 minutes to 3 hours

5 6

Restraint of thermal movement Excess temperature gradients Restraint of thermal movement Excess paste at surface Over Trowelling Inefficient Joints Preparation of sub-base Accidental overload Poor curing, poor placement Anytime after hardening Weeks, months, years Anytime Vulnerable at 1-2 days Rapid cooling 1 day to 2-3 weeks

11 8

Early thermal Contraction

Internal Constraint Mirrors underlying reinforcement Against Form-work Flat-work

Thick masses

12

Appears over reinforcement Fair-faced concrete Slabs Slabs and walls

13

Crazing

9 10 8 7 14

Drying Shrinkage Construction Movement Accident overload

Sub-grade Movement Exposed surfaces

Slabs, footings Typically Slabs

9 4 13 2 10 3 6 8 8

11 5 5 1 14 8 8 7 12

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ECS Crack Control

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Enhancing the service life of concrete structures through the control of cracking
A fundamental requirement of any concrete structure is its performance over its intended design life. Concrete must be able to withstand wear and deterioration given the environment and maintenance regime for which it was designed. If a concrete structure meets its intended design life when exposed to its anticipated environment then it can be described as being durable. The most obvious, and common, form of concrete deterioration is cracking. Once concrete is cracked it becomes vulnerable to the penetration of damaging fluids and is more prone to spalling, wear and abrasive damage. Water or other fluids transport damaging agents into the concrete and cause expansion through corrosion of reinforcing steel, freezing of water, and other effects. High strength concretes are especially vulnerable to early cracking due to the use of fine materials. They have higher cohesion, generate greater heat of hydration and have less bleed water. Careful engineering design and care during construction is critical to overcome the problems caused by uncontrolled cracking and to ensure a structure meets its design life.

Why the Control of Cracks in Concrete is Important

The New Zealand Concrete Structures Standard NZS3101:1995 defines durability as "the ability to withstand the expected wear and deterioration throughout the intended life of the structure without the need for undue maintenance". The Standard applies to the detailing and specifying of concrete structures with a design life of 50 years. The corrosion of steel reinforcement through the penetration of chloride ions is recognised within this standard as the most common and obvious form of durability failure. Uncontrolled cracks lowers chloride resistance. The type, width and orientation of cracking in a structural element normally provides an indication of the risk of corrosion. Cracks wider than 0.30mm seldom heal, on the contrary they tend to enlarge through spalling, leaching and stresses. Concretes that contain slag cements and/or high reactivity pozzolans (such as silica fume) have less capacity to self-heal due to the reduced quantity of calcium hydroxide. The American Concrete Institute (ACI) recommends 0.15mm as the maximum limiting crack width at the tensile face of a reinforced concrete structure subjected to wetting and drying cycles or sea water spray.

Tensile Cracking of Concrete

Concrete cracks when its tensile strength is unable to withstand the forces which the concrete is subjected to. The tensile strain capacity of concrete varies with the age of the concrete and the rate of application of the strain. It must be recognised that concrete has an inherent potential to crack because of its low tensile capacity. Crack control is an integral part of reinforced concrete design and construction. Primary reinforcement will control crack widths but excessive amounts of reinforcing steel can increase the risk of cracking. Reinforcement does not eliminate or reduce shrinkage cracking in concrete. Rather, it transforms a few wide cracks into many fine cracks and micro-cracks.

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Plastic Shrinkage Cracking Plastic shrinkage cracks occur on the surface of freshly placed concrete during finishing or soon after. These types of cracks occur when the rate of evaporation of surface moisture exceeds the rate at which bleed water is rising through the concrete. Plastic shrinkage cracking occurs most often in summer with conditions of heat, wind, and low humidity. Concretes that are most susceptible to this form of cracking are those with: High cement content Finer cements Lower water-cement ratios including superplasticized concrete Precautions to avoid plastic shrinkage include use of anti-evaporation spray on solutions after screeding or floating and before finishing avoiding adverse conditions through early morning or afternoon pours that avoid the windiest and/or driest part of the day start curing as soon as possible after finishing dampen form-work, subgrade and reinforcement cover with polythene prior to finishing use of plastic fibres

Craze Cracking

Plastic Settlement Cracking In plastic concrete bleed water surfaces due to gravity. If the accompanying settlement is restricted by form work or reinforcement, cracking may occur. Typical plastic settlement is approximately 6-8mm per metre depth of the concrete element (corresponding to a typical bleeding rate of 6-8 litres per cubic metre).

Crazing is the development of a network of fine random cracks on the surface of concrete caused by shrinkage of the surface layer. The cracks are rarely more than 2mm deep and typically form hexagonal shaped areas no more than 40mm across. They are more likely to occur on steel trowelled surfaces. These cracks are unsightly but rarely compromise structural integrity of the concrete. Crazing occurs when good concrete practice is not followed, eg poor curing, wet mixes, rapid surface drying or when concrete is finished too early while bleed water is still present.

Measures to reduce the possibility of plastic settlement cracking, include revibrate concrete where necessary control concrete slump (80-100mm) to restrict bleed water provide sufficient concrete cover to reinforcement use air entrained concrete

To prevent crazing the following precautions should be followed: dont finish concrete while bleed water exists never sprinkle or trowel dry cement into plastic concrete to absorb bleed water

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ECS Crack Control

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Early Thermal Cracking As concrete hardens the cement hydration process produces heat and the concrete element expands. The element then contracts as it cools. If contraction is restrained the resulting tensile stresses may cause cracking. Concrete is most vulnerable to early thermal cracking on the day it is poured when the heat of day and the heat of hydration abates and is replaced by a cold evening. Typical thermal movements are of the order of 0.1mm per metre length (100 micro strain) per 10C change in temperature. Thermal cracks are common and the practice of joints not being cut for up to 48 hours leaves concrete vulnerable to this mechanism. In mass concrete pours the resulting thermal effects need special treatment. Typical solutions involve the use of a concrete that generates low thermal heat (via a slag cement such as Duracem), and/or the use of insulating form work. Insulating form work controls the release of heat so avoiding excessive thermal gradients between the core and the surface.

To reduce the risks of early thermal cracking: start curing as soon as possible use of grooved jointing tool, crack inducers, early age cutting and isolation joints covering concrete to slow heat loss at night or exposure to wind delay removal of formwork

Figure 2

Time of appearance of cracking

Time

Types of cracking
Plastic Settlement Plastic Shrinkage Early Thermal Movement Drying Shrinkage Excess Loading Corrosion Hours Days

Weeks

Months

Years

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Drying Shrinkage Cracking Drying shrinkage cracks can be a significant cause of damage to a concrete structure. These rarely appear earlier than 5-7 days following placing. Shrinkage occurs over a prolonged period and typically 70-80% of total drying shrinkage is reached after 12 months. Drying shrinkage can be defined as the "loss in concrete volume resulting from the loss of water from the concrete after hardening". The extent of cracking that can result from drying shrinkage depends primarily on the amount of restraint that exists to stop movement. The degree of drying shrinkage, strength and elasticity of the concrete will all have some influence. All concrete is restrained to some extent, often by friction with the subgrade under a floor slab, or by other adjacent parts of the structure. Typical drying shrinkage movement is 0.45 to 0.80mm per metre (450-800 microstrain). This shrinkage movement represents total shrinkage of 45-80mm in a 100 metre long slab or 2.5 to 4mm per 5 metre section (isolated by saw cuts). The most important aspect in concrete mix design to control drying shrinkage is the total amount of mix water. Water is required for hydration purposes and also to provide for workability. This "water of convenience", needs to be kept to a minimum. A general rule is that for each 1% increase in water content drying shrinkage increases by 2%.

The cement type will affect the rate of shrinkage. Slow hydrating cements such as slag will exhibit slow shrinkage. The size of aggregate is important. The larger the aggregate proportion of the concrete mix, the lower the paste content tends to be. The type and stiffness of aggregate can also influence the amount of concrete shrinkage. Tests show that concrete using basalt aggregates tend to shrink less than greywacke-based concrete. The tensile strain capacity of concrete at early days is typically no more than 100-250 micro strain. Therefore, with expected final shrinkage in excess of 500 microstrains, no matter how low the concrete slump, or how low its water-cement ratio, the concrete cannot withstand the stresses due to drying shrinkage. General remedies to control drying shrinkage: use of control joints and isolation joints use of concrete at 100mm slump or less and with low shrinkage attributes use of a specialist solution such as shrinkage compensating admixtures, post tensioning or vacuum dewatering

Curing

Curing is important for controlling all forms of cracking. Curing prolongs the cement hydration process as Drying shrinkage increases for concretes at higher concrete hardens thereby assisting in strength water-cement ratios. Concrete with a low volume development. Curing also retains moisture in the of mixing water and a low water-cement ratio will concrete which slows but doesnt reduce drying exhibit lower shrinkage. 1 hour 1 day 1 See week 1 month 1 year 50 years shrinkage. brochure SC4 Curing.

Preparation of Subgrade and Formwork

For slabs on grade all top soil and soft spots should be removed in site preparation. The remaining soil destined to be below the slab should be well compacted by rolling or tamping and the subgrade should be sloped in the natural drainage direction. Smooth, well compacted bases will help to prevent cracking due to movement in the finished slab. Formwork must be constructed in a manner that will enable it to withstand the pressure of the fresh concrete without any movement. Vapour barriers can increase bleeding and increase cracking of high slump concrete.

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Construction Joints
Designing for concrete movement through jointing, saw cuts and/or a sand slip layer under a floor slab is important. Control joints can be formed by sawing, forming, crack inducers or tooling a groove in the concrete to a depth of 30% its total thickness. The joints should be no further apart than 35 times the thickness of unreinforced concrete, and 45 times the thickness for reinforced concrete. A 100mm thick concrete floor should have control joints 30mm deep and spaced 3.5 metres apart. Isolation joints enable adjacent elements such as floors meeting columns, footings or walls to move independently. These joints are through the full depth of the concrete and are constructed by using a barrier to prevent bond or interlock occurring between elements.

Technical Data
Plastic shrinkage cracks occur when the rate of evaporation exceeds the rate at which water rises to the surface of recently placed concrete. A useful formula for calculating evaporation is provided by Uno (ACI Materials Journal, July-August 1998). E=5([tc+18]2.5 - r x [Ta=18]2.5)(v+4)x10-6 Where: E= evaporation rate Tc=kg/m2/hr Tc= concrete (water surface) temperature, C Ta=air temperature, C r= (relative humidity %)/100 v= wind velocity, kph

An evaporation rate in excess of 0.50 kg/m2/hr is considered to expose concrete to an increased risk of plastic shrinkage cracking. Above 1.0 kg/m2 /hr cracking will almost always occur.
800

1998 BRANZ Concrete Drying Shrinkage Test Results

700

Average microstrains

Test Method AS 1012.13-1992

600 500

400 300 200

280kg GP Auckland 425kg GP Auckland 425kg GP Metamax Auckland 425kg GP Silica Fume Auckland

100 0

14

21

28

56

Time (days)

800

Average microstrains

350kg 350kg 350kg 350kg 350kg 350kg 350kg

GP Wellington GP Christchurch GP Auckland GP Metamax Auckland GP Silica Fume Auckland Duracem Auckland Duracem Metamax Auckland

1998 BRANZ Concrete Drying Shrinkage Test Results

700

Test Method AS 1012.13-1992

600 500

400 300 200 100 0 7 14 21 28 56

Time (days)

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Other topics in this series of brochures include: ECS 1 Marine & Coastal ECS 2 Chemical Resisting ECS 4 High Strength Concrete ECS 5 Industrial & Commercial Floors ECS 6 Abrasion Resisting Also Site Concrete series: SC 1 Ordering Ready Mixed Concrete SC 2 Moving Concrete SC 3 Placing & Compacting Concrete SC 4 Curing of Concrete

Phone: 0800 ECS DATA 0800 327 328 Fax:

The information presented in this brochure is offered in good faith, however, due to differences in specific conditions, environments and materials no responsibility can be taken for the application of the principles and procedures discussed. For advice on your particular project call these numbers.

0800 ECS FAX 0800 327 329

Email: ecs@concrete.co.nz www.concrete.co.nz

Edition: August 1999