Shrinkage, Cracking And Deflection-The Serviceability Of Concrete Structures

Chapter 1 Introduction - The Serviceability of Concrete Structure

1.1 General In the method of design based on limit state concept, the structure shall be designed to withstand safely all loads liable to act on it throughout its life; it shall also satisfy the serviceability requirements, such as limitations on deflection and cracking. The acceptable limit for the safety and serviceability requirements before failure occurs is called a limit state. The aim of design is td achieve acceptable probabilities that the structure will not become unfit for the use for which it is intended, that is, that it will not reach a limit state. 1.1.1 All relevant limit states shall be considered in design to ensure an adequate degree of safety and serviceability. In general, the structure shall be designed on the basis of the most critical limit state and shall be checked for other limit states. 1.1.2 For ensuring the above objective, the design should be based on characteristic values for material strengths and applied loads, which take into account the variations in the material strengths and in the loads to be supported. The characteristic values should be based on statistical data if available; where such data are not available they should be based on experience. The design values are derived from the characteristic values through the use of partial safety factors, one for material strengths and the other for loads. In the absence of special considerations these factors should have the values given in 36 according to the material, the type of loading and the limit state being considered.

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Chapter 2 - Deflection
In engineering, deflection is the degree to which a structural element is displaced under a load. It may refer to an angle or a distance. The deflection distance of a member under a load is directly related to the slope of the deflected shape of the member under that load and can be calculated by integrating the function that mathematically describes the slope of the member under that load. Deflection can be calculated by standard formula (will only give the deflection of common beam configurations and load cases at discrete locations), or by methods such as virtual work, direct integration, Castigliano's method, Macaulay's method or the direct stiffness method, amongst others. The deflection of beam elements is usually calculated on the basis of the EulerBernoulli beam equation while that of a plate or shell element is calculated using plate or shell theory. An example of the use of deflection in this context is in building construction. Architects and engineers select materials for various applications. The beams used for frame work are selected on the basis of deflection, amongst other factors. 2.1 Beam deflection for various loads and supports 2.1.1 End loaded cantilever beams The elastic deflection and angle of deflection (in radians) in the example image, a (weightless) cantilever beam, with an end load, can be calculated (at the free end B) using:

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where, F= Force acting on the tip of the beam L= Length of the beam (span) E= Modulus of elasticity I= Area moment of inertia Note that if the span doubles, the deflection increases eightfold. The deflection at any point, x , along the span of an end loaded cantilevered beam can be calculated using :

Note that at x=L (the end of the beam), the are identical to the and equations above. 2.1.2 Uniformly loaded cantilever beam

and

equations

The deflection, at the free end B, of a cantilevered beam under a uniform load is given by:

where, q = Uniform load on the beam (force per unit length) L = Length of the beam E = Modulus of elasticity I = Area moment of inertia The Deflection at any point x, along the span of a uniformly loaded cantilevered beam can be calculated using:
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2.1.3 Center load Beam The elastic deflection (at the midpoint C) of a beam, loaded at its center, supported by two simple supports is given by:

Where, F = Force acting on the center of the beam L = Length of the beam between the supports E = Modulus of elasticity I = Area moment of inertia The deflection at any point, , along the span of a center loaded simply supported beam can be calculated using:

for

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Shrinkage, Cracking And Deflection-The Serviceability Of Concrete Structures

2.1.4 Intermediately loaded beam The maximum elastic deflection on a beam supported by two simple supports, loaded at a distance from the closest support, is given by:

where, F = Force acting on the beam L = Length of the beam between the supports E = Modulus of elasticity I = Area moment of inertia a = Distance from the load to the closest support (i.e. This maximum deflection occurs at a distance given by: )

from the closest support and is

2.1.5 Uniformly loaded beam The elastic deflection (at the midpoint C) on a beam supported by two simple supports, under a uniform load (as pictured) is given by: The deflection at any point, , along the span of a uniformly loaded simply supported beam can be calculated using:

Where, q = Uniform load on the beam (force per unit length) L = Length of the beam
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E = Modulus of elasticity I = Area moment of inertia The deflection at any point, , along the span of a uniformly loaded simply supported beam can be calculated using:

Shows a statically determinate beam, deflecting under an evenly distributed load

2.2 Structural deflection Building codes determine the maximum deflection, usually as a fraction of the span e.g. 1/400 or 1/600. Either the strength limit state (allowable stress) or the serviceability limit state (deflection considerations amongst others) may govern the minimum dimensions of the member required. The deflection must be considered for the purpose of the structure. When designing a steel frame to hold a glazed panel, one allows only minimal deflection to prevent fracture of the glass. The deflected shape of a beam can be represented by the moment diagram, integrated (twice, rotated and translated to enforce support conditions).

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Fig. Deflection On Beam and Cantilever

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Shrinkage, Cracking And Deflection-The Serviceability Of Concrete Structures

Chapter 3 : Shrinkage of concrete

3.1What is Shrinkage? Shrinkage of concrete is the time-dependent strain measured in an unloaded and unrestrained specimen at constant temperature. To understand this aspect more closely, shrinkage can be classified in the following ways,:1. Plastic Shrinkage 2. Drying Shrinkage 3. Autogeneous Shrinkage 4. Carbonation Shrinkage 3.1.1. Plastic shrinkage : Shrinkage of this type manifests itself soon after the concrete is placed in the forms while the concrete is still in the plastic state. Loss of water by evaporation from the surface of concrete or by the absorption by aggregate or subgrade, is believed to be the reasons of plastic shrinkage. The loss of water results in the reduction of volume. The aggregate particles or the reinforcement comes in the way of subsidence due to which cracks may appear at the surface or internally around the aggregate or reinforcement. In case of floors and pavements where the surface area exposed to drying is large as compared to depth, when this large surface is exposed to hot sun and drying wind, the surface of concrete dries very fast which results in plastic shrinkage. Sometimes even if the concrete is not subjected to severe drying, but poorly made with a high water/ cement ratio, large quantity of water bleeds and accumulates at the surface. When this water at the surface dries out, the surface concrete collapses causing cracks. Plastic concrete is sometimes subjected to unintended vibration or yielding of formwork support which again causes plastic shrinkage cracks as the concrete at this stage has not developed enough strength. From the above it can be inferred that high water/ cement ratio, badly proportioned concrete, rapid drying, greater bleeding, unintended vibration etc., are some of the reasons for plastic shrinkage. It can also be further added that richer concrete undergoes greater plastic shrinkage. Plastic shrinkage can be reduced mainly by preventing the rapid loss of water from surface. This can be done by covering the surface with polyethylene sheeting immediately on finishing operation; by monomolecular coatings by fog spray that keeps the surface moist; or by working at night. An effective method of removing plastic shrinkage cracks is to revibrate the concrete in a controlled manner. Use of small quantity of aluminium power is also suggested to offset the effect of plastic shrinkage. Similarly, expansive cement or shrinkage compensating cement also can be used for controlling the shrinkage during the
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setting o f concrete. The principal property of such cement is that the expansion induced in the plastic concrete will almost offset the normal shrinkage due to lo ss o f mo isture. Under correct usage, the distance between the joints can sometimes be tripled without increasing the level of shrinkage cracking. Further, use of unneeded high slump concrete, over sanded mix, higher air entraining should be discouraged in order to reduce the higher plastic shrinkage.

Fig. Plastic shrinkage

3.1.2. Drying Shrinkage: Just as the hydration of cement is an everlasting process, the drying shrinkage is also an everlasting process when concrete is subjected to drying conditions. The drying shrinkage of concrete is analogous to the mechanism of drying of timber specimen. The loss of free water contained in hardened concrete, does not result in any appreciable dimension change. It is the loss of water held in gel pores that causes the change in the volume. Under drying conditions, the gel water is lost progressively over a long time, as long as the concrete is kept in drying conditions. It is theoretically estimated that the total linear change due to long time drying shrinkage could be of the order of 10,000 microns. But values upto 4,000 microns have been actually observed. Cement paste shrinks more than mortar and mortar shrinks more than concrete. Concrete made with smaller size aggregate shrinks more than concrete made with bigger size aggregate. The magnitude of drying shrinkage is also a function of the fineness of gel. The finer the gel the more is the shrinkage. It has been pointed out earlier that the high pressure steam cured concrete with low specific surface of gel, shrinks much less than that of normally cured cement gel.

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Fig. Drying Shrinkage 3.1.3. Autogeneous Shrinkage: In a conservative system i.e. where no moisture movement to or from the paste is permitted, when temperature is constant some shrinkage may occur. The shrinkage of such a conservative system is known as a autogeneous shrinkage. Autogeneous shrinkage is of minor importance and is not applicable in practice to many situations except that of mass of concrete in the interior of a concrete dam. The magnitude of autogeneous shrinkage is in the order of about 100 microns.

Fig. Autogeneous Shrinkage

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3.1.4. Carbonation Shrinkage: Carbonation shrinkage is a phenomenon very recently recognized. Carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere reacts in the presence of water with hydrated cement. Calcium hydroxide gets converted to calcium carbonate and also some other cement compounds are decomposed. Such a complete decomposition of calcium compound in hydrated cement is chemically possible even at the low pressure of carbon dioxide in normal atmosphere. Carbonation penetrates beyond the exposed surface of concrete only very slowly. The rate of penetration of carbon dioxide depends also on the moisture content of the concrete and the relative humidity of the ambient medium. Carbonation is accompanied by an increase in weight of the concrete and by shrinkage. Carbonation shrinkage is probably caused by the dissolution of crystals of calcium hydroxide and deposition of calcium carbonate in its place. As the new product is less in volume than the product replaced, shrinkage takes place. Carbonation of concrete also results in increased strength and reduced permeability, possibly because water released by carbonation promotes the process of hydration and also calcium carbonate reduces the voids within the cement paste. As the magnitude of carbonation shrinkage is very small when compared to long term drying shrinkage, this aspect is not of much significance. But carbonation reduces the alkalinity of concrete which gives a protective coating to the reinforcement against rusting. If depth of carbonation reaches up to steel reinforcements, the steel becomes liable for corrosion. The rate of penetration of carbon dioxide depends also on the moisture content of the concrete and the relative humidity of the ambient medium. Carbonation is accompanied by an increase in weight of the concrete and by shrinkage Carbonation shrinkage is probably caused by the dissolution of crystals of calcium hydroxide and deposition of calcium carbonate in its place. As the new product is less in volume than the product replaced, shrinkage takes place. Carbonation of concrete also results in increased strength and reduced permeability, possibly because water released by carbonation promotes the process of hydration and also calcium carbonate reduces the voids within the cement paste. As the magnitude of carbonation shrinkage is very small when compared to long term drying shrinkage, this aspect is not of much significance One of the most important factors that affects shrinkage is the drying condition or in other words, the relative humidity of the atmosphere at which the concrete specimen is kept. If the concrete is placed in 100 per cent relative humidity for any length of time, there will not be any shrinkage; instead there will be a slight swelling. The typical relationship between shrinkage and time for which concrete is stored at different relative humidities is shown in Figure. The graph shows that the magnitude of shrinkage increases with time and also with the reduction of relative humidity.

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Fig. Carbonation Shrinkage

The rate of shrinkage decreases rapidly with time. It is observed that 14 to 34 per cent of the 20 year shrinkage occurs in 2 weeks, 40 to 80 per cent of the 20 year shrinkage occurs in 3 months and 66 to 85 per cent of the 20 year shrinkage occurs in one year. Another important factor which influences the magnitude of shrinkage is water/cement ratio of the concrete. The richness of the concrete also has a significant influence on shrinkage. Aggregate plays an important role in the shrinkage properties of concrete. The quantum of an aggregate, its size, and its modulus of elasticity influence the magnitude of drying shrinkage. The rate of shrinkage decreases rapidly with time. It is observed that 14 to 34 per cent of the 20 year shrinkage occurs in 2 weeks, 40 to 80 per cent of the 20 year shrinkage occurs in 3 months and 66 to 85 per cent of the 20 year shrinkage occurs in one year. Another important factor which influences the magnitude of shrinkage is water/cement ratio of the concrete. The richness of the concrete also has a significant influence on shrinkage. Aggregate plays an important role in the shrinkage properties of concrete. The quantum of an aggregate, its size, and its modulus of elasticity influence the magnitude of drying shrinkage. Harder aggregate with higher modulus of elasticity like quartz shrinks much less than softer aggregates such as sandstone.

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Moisture Movement Concrete shrinks when allowed to dry in air at a lower relative humidity and it swells when kept at 100 per cent relative humidity or when placed in water. Just as drying shrinkage is an ever continuing process, swelling, when continuously placed in water is also an ever continuing process. If a concrete sample subjected to drying condition, at some stage, is subjected to wetting condition, it starts swelling. It is interesting to note that all the initial drying shrinkage is not recovered even after prolonged storage in water which shows that the phenomenon of drying shrinkage is not a fully reversible one. Just as the drying shrinkage is due to loss of adsorbed water around gel particles, swelling is due to the adsorption of water by the cement gel. The water molecules act against the cohesive force and tend to force the gel particles further apart as a result of which swelling takes place. In addition, the ingress of water decreases the surface tension of the gel. 3.2 Effect of Concrete Ingredients on Shrinkage Many researchers have studied the factors associated with the shrinkage of concrete mixtures. The most influential factor is the type of coarse aggregate used. Hard, dense aggregate is able to restrain the shrinkage of the cement paste. In contrast, using aggregate with a higher compressibility can increase the shrinkage of the concrete mixture by about 120 to 150 percent. Therefore, locally-available materials play a critical role in the shrinkage behavior of the concrete. The properties of aggregate from various quarries should be considered if shrinkage is to be minimized. Some recommendations include using a large topsize aggregate and optimizing the gradation of the aggregate and combining aggregate sources to minimize gap-grading and corresponding paste content of the concrete. However, the overall benefit of these suggestions is dependent on the aggregate properties used. If the aggregate is of poor inherent quality, maximizing the size, gradation, and content may have little effect on the concrete shrinkage. Likewise, blending a large aggregate with poor qualities to a mid-size aggregate with good properties may increase the resulting shrinkage behavior of the concrete mixture. Other factors that have been found to have a significant impact on the shrinkage of concrete mixtures includes the use of shrinkage-promoting admixtures (such as accelerators), the use of dirty aggregate which increases water demand and using a cement with high shrinkage characteristics. The cumulative effect of these factors has been found to be multiplicative and not additive. So, combined factors can easily increase concrete shrinkage by several hundred percent. Therefore, the specific impact of any set of materials should be determined by laboratory testing. The shrinkage of a concrete mixture can have a significant impact on the performance of floors on ground. With the increasing demand for structural load-carrying capability and corresponding floor performance, shrinkage has
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become a growing issue. As repairs and maintenance can be costly, good joint performance is essential for industrial concrete floors. Therefore, it is important for slabs to remain in contact with the supporting base (minimal warping) and the joints to have minimal widening. The shrinkage potential of the concrete mixture must be well-understood so proper design and construction methods can result in the expected long-term serviceability for the owner. Even for commercial floors where heavy loading does not occur, concrete shrinkage can result in warping relaxation subsequent to installation of floor coverings or coatings. When surfaces are reprofiled in preparation for installation of floor finishes, slab distortion can result in delamination and buckling of the flooring. Knowledge of potential concrete shrinkage can help minimize such problems. 3.3 Effects of Shrinkage If concrete members were free to shrink, without restraint, shrinkage of concrete would not be a major concern to structural engineers. However, this is not the case. The contraction of a concrete member is often restrained by its supports or by the adjacent structure. Bonded reinforcement also restrains shrinkage. Each of these forms of restraint involve the imposition of a gradually increasing tensile force on the concrete which may lead to time-dependent cracking (in previously uncracked regions), increases in deflection and a widening of existing cracks. Restraint to shrinkage is probably the most common cause of unsightly cracking

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Chapter 4 - Cracking
4.1 General A common adage is that there are two guarantees with concrete. One, it will get hard and two, it will crack. Cracking is a frequent cause of complaints in the concrete industry. The Concrete Foundations Association has produced a new flyer to help contractors educate their customers about the causes of cracks and when they should be a concern. Cracking can be the result of one or a combination of factors such as drying shrinkage, thermal contraction, restraint (external or internal) to shortening, subgrade settlement, and applied loads. Cracking can not be prevented but it can be significantly reduced or controlled when the causes are taken into account and preventative steps are taken. 4.2 Causes and control of cracking: 4.2.1 Plastic Shrinkage Cracking: It occurs within 1 to 8 hours after placing, when subjected to a very rapid loss of moisture caused by a combination of factors, which include air and concrete temperatures, relative humidity and wind velocity at the surface of the concrete. These factors can combine to cause high rates of surface evaporation in either hot or cold weather. Plastic Shrinkage Crack Pattern , Plastic Shrinkage Cracks When moisture evaporates from the surface of freshly placed concrete faster than it is replaced by bleed water, the surface concrete shrinks. A zero bleed concrete will shrink due to the restraint provided by the concrete below the drying surface layer, tensile stresses develop in the weak, stiffening plastic concrete, resulting in shallow cracks of varying depth which may form a random, polygonal pattern, or may appear as essentially parallel to one another. These cracks are often fairly wide at the surface. They range from 5 cm to a few m in length and are spaced from 5 cm to as much as 3m apart. Plastic shrinkage cracks begin as shallow cracks but can become full depth cracks. Preventive measure: Dampening sub grade, early start of curing, sunshade, windbreaker, fog nozzle, plastic sheet to cover, evaporation retardant (e.g. aliphatic alcohol within one hour of concrete placement). Repairs: If closely spaced chipping the area and repairing. If farther apart, sealing and grouting.
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4.2.2 Plastic Settlement Cracking: After initial placement, vibration and finishing concrete has tendency to continue to consolidate. During this period, the plastic concrete may be may result in voids under the obstruction and cracks above the obstruction .When associated with reinforcing steel, settlement cracking increases with increasing bar size, increasing slump, and decreasing cover. The degree of settlement cracking maybe intensified by insufficient vibration or by the use of leaking or highly flexible forms.

Fig. Plastic Settlement Cracking Preventive Measures: Avoiding congestion of rebars; rigid design of forms; proper vibrating needle penetration; provision of time interval between the placements of concrete in columns, deep beams, thick slabs and beams (with advance pour planning). The use of the lowest possible slump, and an increase in concrete cover will reduce settlement cracking. Repairs: If closely spaced chipping the area and repairing . If farther apart, sealing and grouting.

4.2.3 Drying Shrinkage Crack: When associated with reinforcing steel, settlement cracking increases with increasing bar size, increasing slump and decreasing cover. The degree of settlement may increase with insufficient vibration, lack of compaction at top layers of concrete, or by the use of leaking or highly flexible forms. This is more of a problem with high bleed concrete particularly in winter when the cooler temperatures provide longer time to initial set and therefore a higher amount of bleed .

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Fig. Drying Shrinkage Crack Preventive Measures: Rigid formwork, leak proof formwork, use of screed vibrator and float for surface finishing. Designing a lower bleed concrete mix is recommended compared with the 5% maximum. Further use of a rich concrete mix (400 kg/m binder, W/C = 0.4) should be encouraged. 4.3 Long Term Shrinkage Cracking: Shrinkage is the inherent property of cement paste, which in pure form may shrink up to 1%. Aggregate provides internal restraint that reduces the magnitude of this volume change to about 0.06 percent. Shrinkage also occurs partly due to hydration of cement. On wetting concrete tends to expand but to a lower extent as compared to original shrinkage. Concrete would continue to shrink during its lifetime albeit at a very reduced rate. If the shrinkage of concrete could take place without restraint, the concrete would not crack. The combination of shrinkage and restraint cause tensile stresses to develop in the concrete, leading to cracking. In thicker section of concrete, tensile stresses are caused by differential shrinkage between the surface and the interior concrete. The larger shrinkage at the surface causes cracks to develop that may, with time, penetrate deeper into the concrete. Long term measurements on some large reinforced concrete bridge structures have shown that the strain due to drying shrinkage after 5 years was about 30 x 10-6. As the tensile strain capacity of hardened concrete is in the range 80 to 150 x 10-6, it is clear that long term drying shrinkage alone could not initiate
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the no-load-induced cracks. However it certainly plays an important role. The shrinkage of a particular concrete mix is also affected by additional factors such as temperature history, curing, relative humidity and ratio of volume to exposed surface. Sound aggregates for concrete have low shrinkage and the more quantity of it is present in concrete smaller would be the shrinkage. Shrinkage cracks in concrete tunnel and PSC girder respectively. Preventive Measures: Minimum water content, use of plasticizer for compensating workability due to lesser water, use of highest possible aggregate content and hence smaller quantity of cements, eliminate external restrains (e.g. smooth polythene sheet on the sub grade for base slab), sufficiently close spaced reinforcement (e.g. generally 15 cm in slabs & walls). Repairs: Sealing & grouting as necessary depending on the width of crack. 4.4 Concrete Crazing: Crazing is the development of a network of fine random cracks or fissures on the surface of concrete caused by shrinkage of the surface layer. These cracks are rarely more than 3mm deep, and are more noticeable on over floated or steel-toweled surfaces. The irregular hexagonal areas enclosed by the cracks are typically no more than 40mm wide and may be as small as 10mm in unusual instances . Generally, craze cracks develop at an early age and are apparent the day after placement or at least by the end of the first weak. Often they are not readily visible until the surface has been wetted and it is beginning to dry. They do not affect the structural integrity of concrete and rarely do they affect durability. However crazed surfaces can be unsightly. Crazing in concrete usually occurs because of wrong construction practices like: Poor or inadequate curing. Intermittent wet curing and drying. Excessive floating Excessive laitance on surface. Finishing with float when bleed water is on the surface. Sprinkling cement on the surface to dry up the bleed water. Over vibration loading extra bleed & laitance on surface.

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Fig. Concrete Crazing Preventive Measure: Proper and early start of curing. Use of curing compound on the surface. Never sprinkle dry cement or a mixture of cement and fine sand on the surface of the plastic concrete. 4.5 Thermal Cracking: Temperature difference within a concrete structure may be caused by portions of the structure losing heat of hydration at different rates or by the weather conditions cooling or heating one portion of the structure to a different degree or at a different rate than another portion of the structure. These temperature differences result in differential volume change, leading to cracks. This is normally associated with mass concrete including large and thicker sections ( 500mm) of column, piers, beams, footings and slabs. Temperature differential due to changes in the ambient temperature can affect any structure. The temperature gradient may be caused by either the centre of the concrete heating up more than the outside due to the liberation of heat during cement hydration or more rapid cooling of the exterior relative to the interior. Both cases result in tensile stresses on the exterior and, if the tensile strength is
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exceeded, cracking will occur. The tensile stresses are proportional to the temperature differential, the coefficient of thermal expansion, the effective modulus of elasticity (which is reduced by creep), and the degree of restraint. The more massive is the structure, the greater is the potential for temperature differential and restraint. Hardened concrete has a coefficient of thermal expansion that may range from 4 to 9 x 10-6 per deg. F. When one portion of a structure is subjected to a temperature induced volume change, the potential for thermally induced cracking exists. Special consideration should be given to the design of structures in which some portions are exposed to temperature changes, while other portions of the structure are either partially or completely protected. A drop in temperature may result in cracking in the exposed element, while increases in temperature may cause cracking in the protected portion of the structure.

Fig. Thermal Cracking Preventive Measures: Reducing maximum internal temperature. Delaying the onset of cooling. Controlling the rate at which the concrete cools by insulating the exposed concrete surface during first 5 days. This could be done by 50mm thick thermocol sheets encased with polythene sheet laid over concrete surfaces already covered with hessian cloth and water sprinkler keeping the hessian wet. The temperature gradient between core of concrete and the surfaces should not be allowed to be more than 15 0 C. Increasing the tensile strength of concrete.
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Reducing the concrete temperature at placement up to say 32 0 C. Using low heat of hydration cement or using fly ash replacement of part of cement. Keeping steel formwork warm by air heating during winter. Use of thermally insulating material as formwork. Keeping insulating formwork for longer duration. Low grade of cement, OPC 33 grade is the best. Cement with high C2S content. Repairs: Sealing and grouting. 4.6 Cracking due to Chemical Reaction: Deleterious chemical reactions may cause cracking of concrete. These reactions may be due to materials used to make the concrete or materials that come into contact with the concrete after it has hardened. Concrete may crack with time as the result of slowly developing expansive reactions between aggregate containing active silica and alkalis derived from cement hydration, admixtures or external sources (e.g. curing water, ground water, alkaline solutions stored or used in the finished structure). The alkali silica reaction results in the formation of a swelling gel, which tends to draw water from other portions of the concrete. These causes local expansion and accompanying tensile stresses and may eventually result in the complete deterioration of the structure. Certain carbonate rocks participate in reactions with alkalis, which in some instances produce detrimental expansion & cracking. These are usually associated with argillaceous dolomite limestone.

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Fig. Cracking due to Chemical Reaction

Preventive Measures: Proper selection of aggregate it should be innocuous to alkalinity. Cement with low alkalinity (preferably less than 0.5, IS:456 limit is 0.6). Use of Pozzolanas (like fly ash and blast furnace slag) which themselves contain very fine highly active silicon. Repairs: Cracks should be sealed and grouted but only after 3 to 5 years. Until then these cracks may be temporarily surface sealed. 4.7 Steel Corrosion induced Cracking: Corrosion of the steel produces iron oxides and hydroxides, which have a volume much greater than the volume of the original metallic iron. This increase in volume causes high radial bursting stresses around reinforcing bars and results in local radial cracks. These splitting cracks can propagate along the bar, resulting in the formation of longitudinal cracks or spalling of the concrete. A broad crack may also form at a plane of bars parallel to a concrete surface resulting in delamination, a wellknown problem in bridge decks. Cracks provide easy access for oxygen, moisture and chlorides and then minor splitting cracks can create a condition in which corrosion and cracking are accelerated.
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The key to protect metal from corrosion is to stop or reverse the chemical reaction. Reinforcing steel does not corrode in concrete because a tightly adhering protective oxide coating forms in the highly alkaline environment. This is known as passive protection. Reinforcing steel may corrode, however, if the alkalinity of the concrete is reduced through carbonation or if the passivity of this steel is destroyed by aggressive icons (usually chlorides). Corrosion can continue if a longitudinal crack forms parallel to the reinforcement, because passivity is lost at many locations, and oxygen and moisture are readily available along the full length of the crack. Other causes of longitudinal cracking such as high bond stresses, transverse tension, shrinkage and settlement, can initiate corrosion.

Fig. Steel Corrosion induced Cracking Preventive Measures: Dense concrete with low permeability. Adequate cover to steel. In case of large bars and thick covers, it may be necessary to add small transverse reinforcement while maintaining the min. cover requirements to limit splitting and to reduce the surface crack width. For severe exposure conditions coated reinforcement, sealers and overlays on concrete surface, corrosion inhibiting admixtures and catholic protection. Concrete should be allowed to breathe, that is, any concrete surface treatment must allow water to evaporate from the concrete.
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Repairs: Entire loose concrete should be removed beyond the reinforcement bars by at least 30 mm. Corrosion on steel bars should be removed by scrapping /sand blasting so that shiny surface of metal appears. Repair should then be carried out .

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REFERENCE

1) WWW.GOOGLE.COM 2) WWW.WIKIPEDIA.COM 3) R.C.C. Degines (BY B C PUNMIA)

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