UNIT IV DISTRESSES AND

REMEDIES
Concrete Structures: Introduction – Causes of deterioration – Diagnosis of
causes – Flow charts for diagnosis – Materials and methods of repair –
repairing, spalling and disintegration – Repairing of concrete floors and
pavements.
Steel Structures : Types and causes for deterioration – preventive
measures – Repair procedure – Brittle fracture – Lamellar tearing – Defects
in welded joints – Mechanism of corrosion – Design of protect against
corrosion – Design and fabrication errors – Distress during erection.
Masonry Structures: Discoloration and weakening of stones – Biotical
treatments – Preservation –Chemical preservatives – Brick masonry
structures – Distresses and remedial measures.

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 CONCRETE REPAIR MATERIALS
For some concrete repairs, the best repair material is simply high quality
concrete. But manufacturers have developed some excellent repair materials
that include various polymers leading to higher bond strength and durability.
Most repair materials today are polymer-modified concrete, meaning that the
basic material is a portland cement and aggregate mixture with a polymer
(typically latex) added. A couple of important factors in selecting a repair
material are:
• Does the mortar need to stick to overhead or vertical surfaces Or can it be
very flowable to pour into forms or cracks
• Do you want to use a one-part material or are you willing to use a two-
component material that may be more difficult to work with but have
superior properties
• One of the most important characteristics of a good repair material is very
low shrinkage.

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 CONCRETE REPAIR MATERIALS
• More bond strength, Usually very important--most repairs will be
considered failures if the repair material doesn't bond to the concrete
matrix. A big part of getting good bond is surface preparation.

• Does the repair material need to be freeze-thaw resistant

• important is compressive strength or flexural strength

• abrasion resistance

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 CONCRETE REPAIR MATERIALS
Special Mortar:
The following are the different types of special mortars available, they are
• Cement-clay mortar
• Light-weight and heavy mortars
• Decorative mortar
• Air-entrained mortar
• Gypsum mortar
• Fire-resistance mortar
• Packing mortar
• Sound absorbing mortar
• X-ray shielding mortar

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 CONCRETE REPAIR MATERIALS
Cement-clay mortar
Here clay is introduced as an effective finely ground additive in quantities
ensuring a cement-clay proportion of not over 1:1. The addition of clay
improves the grain composition, the water retaining ability and the
workability of mortar and also increases the density of mortar.
This type of mortar has better covering power and can be used in thin layers.
Light weight mortars:
These are prepared form light porous sands fro pumice and other fine
aggregates. They are also prepared by mixing wood powder, wood shavings or
saw dust with cement mortar or lime mortar.
In such mortars, fibres of jute coir and hair, cut into pieces of suitable size, or
asbestos fibres can also be used.
These mortars have bulk density less than 15KN/m3
.

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 CONCRETE REPAIR MATERIALS
Heavy weight mortars:
These are prepared from heavy quartz or other sands.
They have bulk density of 15 KN/m3 or more.
They are used in load bearing capacity.
Decorative mortars:
These mortars are obtained by using Colour cements or pigments and
Fine aggregate of appropriate color, texture and surface.
Air-entrained Mortar
The working qualities of lean cement-sand mortar can be improved by
entraining air in it(air serves as a plasticizer producing minute air bubbles
which helps in flow characteristics and workability)/
The air bubbles increase the volume of the binder paste and help to fill the
voids in the sand.
The air entraining also makes the mortar weight and a better heat and sound
insulator.
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 CONCRETE REPAIR MATERIALS
Gypsum Mortar
These mortars are prepared from gypsum binding materials such as building
gypsum and anhydrite binding materials.
Fire Resistant Mortar
It is prepared by adding aluminous cement to a finely crushed power of
firebricks(Usually proportion being one part of aluminous cement to two
parts of powder of fire-bricks).
This mortar being fire resistance, is used with fire-bricks for lining furnaces,
fire places, ovens etc.
Sound Absorbing mortar
These mortarts may have binging materials such as cement, lime, gypsum slag
etc and aggregate(light weight porous materials( such as pumice, cinders etc.
The bulk density of such a mortar varies from 6 to 12KN/m3
Noise level can be reduced by using sound absorbing plaster formed with the
help of sound absorbing mortar.
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 CONCRETE REPAIR MATERIALS
Concrete Chemicals
Admixtures are used to modify the properties of fresh and hardened
concrete. They are classified as chemical and mineral admixtures. Chemical
admixtures are used in construction industry for building strong, durable and
waterproof structures. Depending on their use, chemical admixtures are used

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 CONCRETE REPAIR MATERIALS

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 CONCRETE REPAIR MATERIALS

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 Polymer Concrete
• Polymer concrete is an aggregate bound with a polymer binder
instead of Portland cement as in conventional concrete.
• Advantages of polymer concrete include:
– Rapid curing at ambient temperatures
– High tensile flexural, and compressive strengths
– Good adhesion to most surfaces
– Good long-term durability with respect to freeze and thaw cycles
– Low permeability to water and aggressive solutions
– Good chemical resistance
– Good resistance against corrosion
– Lightweight
– May be used in regular wood and steel formwork
– May be vibrated to fill voids in forms

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• Sulphur-Infiltrated concrete
• New type of composites have been produced
by the recently developed techniques of
impregnating porous materials like concrete
with sulphur
• Strength upto 44 MPa have been reported
when 30 % of sulphur, 50% of sand and 20% of
coarse aggregate are mixed.

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 Repairing
of concrete floors and pavements
• Define repair boundaries area
• Saw old concrete
• Remove old concrete
• Prepare patch area
• Provide load transfer
• Place and finish concrete
• Cure and insulate concrete
• Saw and seal joints
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 Define Repair Boundaries
• Each distressed area should be examined and the
repair boundaries marked on the slab surface.
Additional areas of distress that have occurred since
the initial survey should be included. locating repair
boundaries are provided below:
• The recommended minimum repair length is 1.8m (6
ft) for repairs provided with mechanical load-transfer
devices, and 2.4 - 3m (8 -10 ft) for repairs with
aggregate interlock joints. All repairs should be full-
lane width.
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 Define Repair Boundaries
• The minimum recommended distance from the full-
depth repair joints to the nearest transverse crack or
joint is 1.8m (6 ft).
• Reinforcement is needed where the patch length is
longer than 4.6m (15 ft). It may be more economical
to place additional doweled transverse joints at 4.6m
interval than to place reinforcement.
• On multiple-lane highways, it is generally not
necessary to match joints in adjacent lanes, as long
as:
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• Saw Old Concrete
• Before removing deteriorated concrete, isolate the area from
adjacent concrete and shoulder materials using full-depth saw
cuts. The full-depth cuts separate the segment of deteriorated
concrete
• Remove Old Concrete
• Sawing operations should not precede removal and repair
operations by more than two days. The full-depth cuts
provide no load transfer capacity and can begin to pump or
punch into the subbase, causing unnecessary damage. There
are two basic methods of removing deteriorated concrete
from the repair area:
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• Prepare the Patch Area
• After removing the old concrete and loose material, the area
is ready for subbase preparation. If removing operations
damage the subbase, it may be necessary to add and compact
new subbase material
• Place and Finish the New Concrete
• Placing Concrete - Place concrete into the repair area from
ready-mix truck or other mobile batch vehicles.
Honeycombing reduces concrete strength and durability. Use
vertical penetrations of a standard spud vibrator to
adequately consolidate the patching concrete. Do not drag
the vibrator through the mix this may cause segregation and
loss of entrained air.
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• Curing
• Curing is important to help the concrete
achieve good strength and durability. In
general, a liquid-membrane-forming curing
compound is adequate as long as it is applied
evenly and sufficiently. Use well-maintained
pressure spraying equipment that will allow
an even application.

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 Brittle fracture
• Definition - What does Brittle Fracture mean?
• A brittle fracture is the fracture of a metallic
object or other material without appreciable
prior plastic deformation. It is a break in a
brittle piece of metal that failed because
stress exceeded cohesion.

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 Brittle fracture
A stress concentration must be present. This
may be a weld defect, a fatigue crack, a stress-
corrosion crack, or a designed notch, such as a
sharp corner, thread, hole, or the like. The stress
concentration must be large enough and sharp
enough to be a "critical flaw" in terms of
fracture mechanics.

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 Brittle fracture
• A tensile stress must also be present. This
tensile stress must be of a magnitude high
enough to provide microscopic plastic
deformation at the tip of the stress
concentration. One of the major complexities
is that the tensile stress need not be an
applied stress on the structure, but may be a
residual stress that is completely within the
structure.
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 Brittle fracture
• The temperature must be relatively low for the
steel concerned. The problem is that the definition
of metal/temperature interrelationships is inexact,
very much subject to the type of test used to try to
understand whether or not a particular steel is
actually subject to brittle fracture under certain
conditions. The lower the temperature for a given
steel, the greater the possibility that brittle fracture
will occur. For some steels, for example, the
ductile/brittle transition temperature under certain
conditions may be above room temperature.
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 Lamellar tearing
• Lamellar tearing
• Lamellar tearing is a type of welding defect
that occurs in rolled steel plates that have
been welded together due to shrinkage forces
perpendicular to the faces of the plates. Other
causes include an excess of hydrogen in the
alloy. This defect can be mitigated by keeping
the amount of sulfur in the steel alloy below
0.005%.
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 Lamellar tearing
• Visual appearance
• The principal distinguishing feature of lamellar
tearing is that it occurs in T-butt and fillet
welds normally observed in the parent metal
parallel to the weld fusion boundary and the
plate surface , (Fig 1). The cracks can appear at
the toe or root of the weld but are always
associated with points of high stress
concentration.
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 Lamellar tearing
• Metallography
• As lamellar tearing is associated with a high concentration of
elongated inclusions oriented parallel to the surface of the
plate, tearing will be transgranular with a stepped
appearance.
• Causes
• It is generally recognised that there are three conditions
which must be satisfied for lamellar tearing to occur:
• Transverse strain - the shrinkage strains on welding must act
in the short direction of the plate ie through the plate
thickness

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 Lamellar tearing
• Weld orientation - the fusion boundary will be roughly parallel
to the plane of the inclusions
• Material susceptibility - the plate must have poor ductility in
the through-thickness direction
• Thus, the risk of lamellar tearing will be greater if the stresses
generated on welding act in the through-thickness direction.
The risk will also increase the higher the level of weld metal
hydrogen
• Factors to be considered to reduce the risk of tearing
• The choice of material, joint design, welding process,
consumables, preheating and buttering can all help reduce
the risk of tearing.
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 Lamellar tearing
• Material
• Tearing is only encountered in rolled steel
plate and not forgings and castings. There is
no one grade of steel that is more prone to
lamellar tearing but steels with a low Short
Transverse Reduction in Area (STRA),
commonly associated with a high
concentration of rolled sulphide or oxide
inclusions Aluminium treated steels with low
sulphur contents (<0.005%) will have a low
risk.
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 Lamellar tearing
• Joint Design
• Lamellar tearing occurs in joints producing
high through-thickness strain, eg T joints or
corner joints. In T or cruciform joints, full
penetration butt welds will be particularly
susceptible. The cruciform structures in which
the susceptible plate cannot bend during
welding will also greatly increase the risk of
tearing.

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 Lamellar tearing
• Weld size
• Lamellar tearing is more likely to occur in large
welds typically when the leg length in fillet
and T butt joints is greater than 20mm. As
restraint will contribute to the problem,
thinner section plate which is less susceptible
to tearing, may still be at risk in high restraint
situations.

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 Lamellar tearing
• Welding process
• As the material and joint design are the
primary causes of tearing, the choice of
welding process has only a relatively small
influence on the risk. However, higher heat
input processes which generate lower stresses
through the larger HAZ and deeper weld
penetration can be beneficial.
• As weld metal hydrogen will increase the risk
of tearing, a low hydrogen process should be
used when welding susceptible steels.
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 Defects in welded joints
• Welding Defects
• The defects in the weld can be defined as
irregularities in the weld metal produced due
to incorrect welding parameters or wrong
welding procedures or wrong combination of
filler metal and parent metal.

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 Defects in welded joints
• Cracks
• Cracks may be of micro or macro size and may appear in the weld metal or
base metal or base metal and weld metal boundary. Different categories
of cracks are longitudinal cracks, transverse cracks or radiating/star cracks
and cracks in the weld crater. Cracks occur when localized stresses exceed
the ultimate tensile strength of material. These stresses are developed
due to shrinkage during solidification of weld metal.

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 Defects in welded joints
• Porosity
• Porosity results when the gases are entrapped in the solidifying weld
metal. These gases are generated from the flux or coating constituents of
the electrode or shielding gases used during welding or from absorbed
moisture in the coating. Rust, dust, oil and grease present on the surface
of work pieces or on electrodes are also source of gases during welding.
Porosity may be easily prevented if work pieces are properly cleaned from
rust, dust, oil and grease.Futher, porosity can also be controlled if
excessively high welding currents, faster welding speeds and long arc
lengths are avoided flux and coated electrodes are properly baked.

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 Defects in welded joints

Different Forms of Porosities

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• Lack of Fusion and Inadequate or incomplete
penetration:
• Lack of fusion is the failure to fuse together either
the base metal and weld metal or subsequent beads
in multipass welding because of failure to raise the
temperature of base metal or previously deposited
weld layer to melting point during welding. Lack of
fusion can be avoided by properly cleaning of
surfaces to be welded, selecting proper current,
proper welding technique and correct size of
electrode.
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• Examples of Inadequate Penetration

Examples of Inadequate Penetration

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• Imperfect Shape
• Imperfect shape means the variation from the
desired shape and size of the weld bead.
• During undercutting a notch is formed either on one
side of the weld bead or both sides in which stresses
tend to concentrate and it can result in the early
failure of the joint. Main reasons for undercutting are
the excessive welding currents, long arc lengths and
fast travel speeds.

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 Various Imperfect Shapes of Welds

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 Efflorescence and its Treatment in
Concrete and Brick Masonry
• Efflorescence is a deposit of water soluble salts formed
on the surface of concrete and brick masonry due to
movement of water through pores. When water gets
evaporated, efflorescence is formed as the dissolved
salts gets deposited on the surface.
• Efflorescence Treatment on Concrete and Masonry
Surfaces
• Following methods can be adopted for treatment of
efflorescence:
• Material selection
• Design and detailing
• Construction practices
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 Efflorescence and its Treatment in
Concrete and Brick Masonry
• Material Selection
• Avoid selection of materials that has low potential to produce
efflorescence. For example, use cements with low alkali content
since the possibility of efflorescence formation increases with the
increase of alkali content.
• Moreover, specify potable water and clean and washed sand for the
production of grout or mortar mixtures.
• Furthermore, building trims for instance copping, sills, and cops that
manufactured from low salt content materials shall be selected
otherwise the likelihood of efflorescence formation will increase.
• Finally, materials can be tested to find out whether they potentially
cause efflorescence formation or not for example, test method C 67
efflorescence test for brick.
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 Efflorescence and its Treatment in
Concrete and Brick Masonry
2. Design and Detailing
• Generally, rainwater can ingress into all kinds of masonry
walls to a certain extent, but proper design and detailing
can be employed to decline or eliminate the water
penetration which subsequently contribute to the
prevention of efflorescence formation.
• The design measures that recommended to avoid
efflorescence formation involves:
2.1 Watertight Below Grade Masonry

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2.2 Flashing on trim
• Flashings shall be employed to prevent
capillary action and avoid the contact
between masonry and trim materials.
2.3 Air Space
• Air space between exterior walls and interior
of masonry walls reduces efflorescence
formation.

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2.4 Proper Detailing of Movement Joints
• If the movement joints are adequately sized,
located, and sealed, then water penetration
into the wall will be declined to a great extent.
3. Construction Practices
• Beneficial construction practices that lead to
decrease efflorescence formation are as
follows:

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• Utilized Water
• Material protection during transportation
and construction process
• Filling Joints Adequately
• Covering unfinished brickwork

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• Removal of Efflorescence
• The removal of efflorescence is conducted using one of
the following methods:
• Dry brush
• Rinsing with water or other acceptable liquid
• Hand washing
• Sandblasting
• Utilize special chemical cleaner
• Ordinary chemical cleaner such as muriatic

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 What is Ferro cement?
• Ferro cement is a construction material
consisting of wire meshes and cement mortar.
• Properties of Ferrocement
– Highly versatile form of reinforced concrete.
– It’s a type of thin reinforced concrete construction, in
which large amount of small diameter wire meshes
uniformly throughout the cross section.
– Mesh may be metal or suitable material.
– Instead of concrete Portland cement mortar is used.
– Strength depends on two factors quality of sand/cement
mortar mix and quantity of reinforcing materials used.
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• Constituent Materials for Ferrocement
• Cement
• Fine Aggregate
• Water
• Admixture
• Mortar Mix
• Reinforcing mesh
• Skeletal Steel
• Coating

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 Mix Proportions
•Sand: cement ratio (by mass) 1.5 to 2.5
•Water: cement ratio (by mass) 0.35 to 0.60

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 WHAT IS SHOTCRETE?

• The concrete in which mortar or concrete is

pneumatically projected at high velocity on
the backup surface is known as shotcrete or
gunite

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