Bachelor of Architectural Technology and

Construction Management
7sem. Dissertation

Cracks in Different Types of Concrete

Construction and Renovation

Longhu Li [124446]
Consultant: Tommy Bendix Villadsen
VIA University College, Horsens, Denmark
November 2012

Cracks in Different Types of Concrete Construction

and Renovation

Bachelor of Architectural Technology and

Construction Management
7sem. Dissertation

Consultant: Tommy Bendix Villadsen

2 Copies Font Verdana 12
25 pages
35,891 characters

NOTE: This dissertation was completed as part of an Architectural

Technology and Construction Management degree course no
responsibility is taken for any advice, instruction or conclusion
given within!

All rights reserved no part of this publication may be reproduced

without the prior permission of the author.

Longhu Li [124446]
Signature: ____________________
VIA University College, Horsens, Denmark
November 2012

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Abstract
My problem statement is How to solve crack problems in different kind
of concrete construction. I had internship in an Architecture Company
in China. Once we got a problem; the building which the company had
built last year start cracking and our company had the responsibility
to renovate the building. I didnt have the chance to be involved in the
renovation project, but I was so interested in the cracking problem,
why it is happening. So I will find out the reason of occurring cracks,
is it possible to renovate, if its possible how to renovate the cracks.
Cracks are one kind of universal problem of concrete construction, it
affects the building artistic and the function, and it also destroys the
walls integrity, affects the structure safety, even reduce the durability
of structure. Therefore we should take measures to reduce and
prevent the cracks to occur.
This dissertation starts from some descriptions of concrete, such as
concrete history, raw material, advantage and disadvantage of
concrete construction and so on. Crack will be described as the main
problem of disadvantage, point out spots and characteristics of the
cracks, and the causes of wall crack will be described. Corresponding
prevention measures are proposed in order to control crack from
design and construction, summarize the crack appraisal methods and
the crack repair methods.
Finally the summary of the crack renovation will be brought up.

Key Words: Construction, cracks, history, raw material, renovate

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Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 Background Information
1.2 Rationalization of choice of subject
1.3 Problem statement
1.4 Summary of working process Methodology

4
4
4
4
4

2. Concrete construction and cracks

4
2.1 Concrete History & Development
4
2.2 Concrete Material
6
2.3 Concrete Construction Advantage & Disadvantage
6
2.4 The Dangers and Affect of Crack in Building
7
2.5 Main Reason for Cracks
8
2.6 Control Requirements of Cracks in Concrete Structures 8
3. Concrete construction cracks
9
3.1 Classification of Cracks in Concrete Construction
9
3.2 The Cause of Cracks on Concrete Construction
9
3.3 The Position and Characteristics of the Concrete
Construction Cracks
11
3.4 Precaution of Concrete Construction Cracks
12
3.5 Renovation of Concrete Construction Cracks
13
4. Brick-Concrete Construction Cracks
4.1 Characteristics of Cracks caused by Thermal stress
4.2 Characteristics of crack caused by settlement
4.3 Precaution of Brick-Concrete Construction cracks
4.4 Renovation of Brick-Concrete Construction cracks

14
14
16
18
19

5. Project Example Analysis and Measures

5.1 Introduction of Construction and Cracks
5.2 Cause Analysis
5.3 Treatment Measures

20
20
20
21

6. Conclusion

21

List of Illustration

23

List of References

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1. Introduction
1.1 Background Information
It is a 7th semester dissertation for the Bachelor of Architectural
Technology and Construction Management education. Its about
concrete construction cracks. Occurring of cracks, types of cracks,
precaution of cracks will be described in this dissertation.

1.2 Rationalization of Choice of Subject

When I was working in Internship Company, we got a big problem
because of building cracks. I had concrete subject in 3rd semester, but
that wasnt enough to solve crack problem in real project, so I want
have more knowledge which can really solve the problem in real
project.

1.3 Problem Statement

1.
2.
3.
4.

Why cracks happened?

What kind of cracks?
How to prevent cracks happening?
How to renovate cracks?

1.4 Summary of Working Process Methodology

This dissertation was written mainly with the help of articles and
internet web-pages. I made problem statement and structure
according which I followed up during my dissertation in writing
process.

2. Concrete Construction and Cracks

2.1 Concrete History & Development
Concrete is becoming more and more popular as construction
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material in modern city, it has high pressure-resistance, good

durability, and wide range of intensity level, because of such
advantage, not only be used in a variety of civil engineering, the
concrete is also an important materials in
shipbuilding, machinery industry, marine
development, geothermal engineering.
Joseph
Aspdin
(1778-1855)
mixed
limestone and clay to make first artificial
Portland cement in 1824, and obtain the
patent on 21st Oct 1824, its became the
beginning of the cement industry.
Figure

Joseph

Aspdin

&

Later tensile strength of concrete was the

Portland Cement
biggest problem, French technician
grabbed the barbed wire into the concrete to make a small boat, and
exhibited at the Paris Exposition in the second year, it is the first RC
(Reinforcement Concrete) products.
Since then Francois Conigne and
Wilkinson
improved
Lambots
products and Joseph Monier used
crossed reinforcement into bridge
panel and got the patent in 1867,
RC process started improving fast.
1867 is considered as the earliest
RC bridge erection year.
Figure 2 Bridge on Chazelet castle, built in

Konan investigated concrete bear 1875 by Joseph Monier

the pressure and reinforcements
bear the tension, and J.Bushinger confirmed the reinforcements in the
concrete are not suffering from corrosion and other problems, so RC
structure has a new development in 1877.
Concrete structure has been started applying since the mid-19th
century, because of the low quality of cement and concrete in that
time, so the development was slow. Until the end of the 19th century,
concrete structure was getting faster development with the
development of production, experimental work, computational theory
and improvement of construction techniques, material. It became one
of the most widely used building materials in the modern
construction.

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2.2 Concrete Raw Material

Cement, aggregate and water mixture can
be the normal raw material. In general,
drinking water can fulfill the requirements
of the concrete mixing water, excess
amount of acid, alkali and salt can bring
harmful effects to concrete. Raw material
also affect to capacity,
weight, strength and other
properties of concrete.
Figure 3 aggregate
Admixtures can be added to improve certain
properties of concrete, because admixtures have
significant technical and economical effects, it is
becoming indispensable material of the concrete, it
can be air-entraining water reducer, efficient
air-entraining water, retarding superplasticizer,
Figure 4 Slick-Pak II
efficient retarding superplasticizer, and efficient
concrete pumping aid
pumping agent.

2.3 Concrete Construction Advantage & Disadvantage

1. Advantage
(1) Easy to find the raw material: sand, stone are generally local
material; industrial material (such as slag, cinder) can be used to
make artificial material for concrete.
(2) High fire resistance and durability: its not easy to corrode
reinforcement when it wrapped by concrete, less cost for
maintenance. The concrete is fire resistance material, when there
is fire, concrete act as insulation.
(3) Good integrity: can be built different templates, styles and
sizes according to need. After concrete dry, it has good integrity
and stiffness.
(4) Low maintenance fees: concrete structures need less
maintenance, doesnt like steel and wood structures that requires
frequent maintenance.

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2. Disadvantage
(1) Big self-weight: its difficult to have big span on the high
building.
(2) Low crack resistance: because of low tensile strength of
concrete, it often happens cracks, when build the construction
which doesnt allow to have crash or has high requirement about
cracks, project cost will be increased
(3) Long working time: subject to seasonal variations.
There are many ways to reduce disadvantages: i.e. Light-weight,
high-strength material and pre-stressed concrete can be used to
reduce the structural weight and improve the crack resistance of
the structure.

2.4 The Dangers and Affect of Crack in Building

Building crack especially means concrete slab crack and concrete wall
crack; it becomes universal problem of current buildings. Many
concrete constructions have different forms of crack in process of
construct and use. Carbon dioxide penetrates into the concrete
through the cracks and speed up carbonation speed around the cracks,
thus shortening the structure usage. The cracks in the concrete wall
would cause the leakage of the building; it reduces the stiffness,
durability and seismic performance of buildings, if the cracks in the
wall expend, it might be a big threat to human life and property safety.
For example:
1. Some penetrate cracks on the wall can reduce performance,
especially affect to the buildings usage and seismic performance.
2. Cracks on the external wall cause leakage reduce external wall
moisture-proof function.
3. If cracks are too dense, every temperature change accelerates the
expansion of the crack, will cause bigger cracks.
4. Cracks on the wall surface damage to the later rendering, will
affect to the appearance.
5. May cause rendering layer crack off
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2.5 Main Reason for Cracks

There are two kinds of issues cause the cracks on the wall, they are
external loads and non-load issue (i.e. Temperature, shrinkage,
differential settlement, etc)
The cause of non-load issue caused cracks requires deformation of the
construction, when the deformation cannot be fulfilled, it makes
stress, and the stress exceeds a certain value cracks caused, after the
cracks appear deformation are fulfilled or partially fulfilled. Some
structures, although the strength of the material is not high, but have
good toughness; it can be adapted to deformation requirements and
has high crack resistance.
External load issue such as earthquake, settlement, and landslide
(etc.) can be the caused cracks. Cracks caused by the earthquake can
be seen as the foundation of the dynamic deformation. Landslide and
settlement cause foundation deformation, it causes cracks.
According to the research data, accounts for about 80% of cracks are
caused by non-load issue; other 20% are caused by load issue.

2.6 Control Requirements of Cracks in Concrete Structures

There are micro or macro cracks, and harmful or harmless cracks. The
crack width of the building is less than 0.05 mm is micro-cracks,
bigger than 0.05 mm are macro-cracks. The differences between
harmful and harmless cracks are depends on the uses, properties,
environment of building and crack position, width. Normally the
cracks bring following consequences called harmful cracks, such as:
damage to the building function, reduce the structural stiffness, affect
to the integrity of the building damage to the surface function of the
structure and so on. If the cracks need to be fixed or not, should be
based on cracks properties, width, environment, structure category
and so on. The temperature shrinkage deformation cracks in normal
indoor environment have the lower control requirements.
Every country has the different control requirements, but it is
impossible to ensure that the concrete structure doesnt crack:
American Regulation ACL224 specified harmful crack width from
0.108mm; France Regulation CCBA specified the harmful crack width
from 0.27mm; Canadian Regulation specified harmful crack width
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from 0.064mm; Poland Regulation specified harmful crack width from

0.182mm and so on.

3. Concrete Construction Cracks

3.1 Classification of Cracks in Concrete Walls
According to the penetration, cracks can be divided into surface
cracks and penetrating cracks. If cracks appear on the both sides of
wall symmetrically, the direction of extension and the length are
similar, they are almost including in penetrating cracks. If the cracks
only appear on side of wall, or appear on both sides of wall, but the
extend direction and length are different, they are surface cracks.
According to the time of the cracks on the wall, cracks can be divided
into early cracks and late cracks. Early cracks means cast concrete
appears cracks during dry, early cracks normally are mostly horizontal
cracks and vertical cracks. Late cracks means cracks appear after cast
concrete dry, normally horizontal cracks appear in the middle of the
concrete wall, diagonal cracks appear around window, door openings
and vertical cracks appear at connection between beam and wall in
late cracks.

3.2 The Cause of Cracks on Concrete Construction

The causes of concrete wall cracks are very complex, the wall
shrinkage from drying, durability reducing, changing of temperature
and humidity, the quality of construction fails, and unreasonable
construction measures factors may have an impact on the concrete
wall deformation and cracking.
1. The effect of shrinkage of concrete construction cracks:
Shrinkage from drying is one of the main reasons which cause
cracks. Drying shrinkage is a significant feature in various types of
concrete, it is necessary to control the drying shrinkage of the
concrete wall; otherwise it will have even bigger cracks, make the
whole wall cracks.
2. The effect of temperature stress on concrete construction cracks:
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The thermal stress may exceed the tensile strength and bond
strength of the concrete, it will cause cracks on the concrete wall,
and concrete will quickly dehydrate in high temperature, it
exacerbated the shrinkage of concrete, and increase dehydration
of mortar that reduce bond strength. And the stress caused by
seasonal temperature can also cause the concrete wall cracks.
Because of the exterior temperature cannot be controlled, should
avoid working on concrete at hot season.
3. The effect of concrete durability on concrete construction cracks:
Carbonation and wet-dry circulation have a big impact to concrete
compressive, tensile and flexural strength.
If there isnt wall surface finishes, the concrete surface carbonation
will affect in short period of time, so that part which got affected
will be reduced compressive strength and crack resistance.
Rainfall causes the change of concrete moisture of external walls;
humidity changes and leakage cause the change of concrete
moisture of internal walls. When the concrete moisture increase,
stiffens will be decrease. And wet-dry circulation causes
deformation of concrete, when the deformation is restrained, wall
cracks.
4. Construction quality causes cracks in the concrete construction:
Many construction workers dont know very well about concrete
construction, and brick works was popular before and even now,
thats why a lot workers using the same way as brick works to build
concrete construction. Mortar joint cannot full fill the regulation
demand, many vertical mortar joints are less than 10mm, some of
them are only 2-3mm, and it reduces shear strength and bonding
strength between mortar and concrete wall block, so that the
vertical crack happens.
Horizontal mortar joints have different problem, it easy to fulfill the
regulation demand, but it often happens that mortar joint is much
bigger than regulation demand, it not only waste cement,
shrinkage of the mortar joint will be increased as well, higher
shrinkage causes higher concrete wall settlement, so that the
connection between concrete wall and beam or deck cracks.
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3.3 The Position and Characteristics of the Concrete

Construction cracks
The cracks in the concrete walls mainly occur as: vertical cracks,
horizontal cracks and other cracks and cracks normally occur on the
surface layer, sometimes it causes entire wall surface crack, even
cracks through the wall. The position and characteristics of the cracks
in the concrete wall:
1. There are horizontal and diagonal cracks around door and window
openings, below lintel. And around the hole drilled for buried
electrical equipment, fire hydrants and other equipment often
appear extended upward cracks along the top corner of hole.

Figure 5 cracks around window opening

Figure 6 the cracks around drilled hole

2. The connections between wall and beam often appear horizontal

cracks; the cracks normally penetrate through the wall. The
connections between wall and column often appear vertical cracks;
the cracks normally penetrate through the wall. The walls below
the beam also easily appear vertical and diagonal crack.

Figure 7 crack below the beam

Figure 8 cracks on the column

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3. Cracks in the middle of wall normally appear as horizontal cracks

and vertical cracks, those cracks caused by destruction of mortar,
and the length of cracks are big.

Figure 9 vertical cracks i n the middle of wall

Figure 10 horizontal cracks in the middle of
wall

3.4 Precaution of Concrete Construction Cracks

1. During the concrete elements deliver from factory to building
site, should use cover to protect; put wooden batten under
concrete elements; keep distance between two elements in
order to have ventilation cap between each other; avoid being
wet in building site.
2. Better to be used after two month of maintenance, never use
before 28days since produced. If the concrete elements havent
dry yet, should use some measures to make them dry in order
to reduce shrinkage of concrete wall.
3. Try to avoid working in hot day or cold day, if it has to be work
in such days, should sprinkle water on concrete in hot days or
use insulation protect concrete in cold days.
4. If the wall longer than 5m, should set load bearing column in the
wall, and set around 100mm reinforcement concrete beams
under windows.
5. Set expansion joints in every certain distance (depends on the
regulation) according building regulation.
6. Should not erect concrete elements more than 1.8m high every
day, if the wall is higher than 3m, leave the top 2 layers of
concrete element for next day in order to finish settlement on
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bottom layer.
7. Keep in touch with electrician, plumber in order to make sure
where the electricity wire and sewer pipe is, avoid recessing
again on the finished wall.

3.5 Renovation of Concrete Construction Cracks

1. Use steel wire mesh: (1)
remove 100mm existing
rendering
from
both
sides of cracks, (2)
recess V-shape, 10mm
deep groove along the
Figure 11 use steel wire mesh repair
cracks, (3) fill in flexible
putty in the groove (4)
paste 50mm wide non-woven fabrics on the groove, (5) place
steel wire mesh on top of non-woven fabrics, (6) rendering with
mortar.
2. Fill in flexible putty: (1)
remove 100mm existing
rendering from both sides
of cracks, (2) recess
V-shape, 10mm deep
groove along the cracks,
(3) fill in flexible putty in
the groove, (4) paste Figure 12 fill in flexible putty
non-woven fabrics (5) rendering with mortar.
3. Repair surface of cracked wall: smear flexible putty direct on top
of cracked wall.

Figure 13 non-woven fabrics

Figure 14 Flexible putty

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After cracks appear, should take a certain period time to observe, it

better to work when the cracks are not expanding anymore, and the
ambient temperature should be below 30.

4. Brick-Concrete Construction Cracks

The brick-concrete construction
is a traditional structure system;
Figure 14 Flexible putty
its built by clay brick and cement.
Characteristics of clay bricks are
high
compressive
strength,
tensile
strength,
bending
strength. Brick-concrete wall has
often two kinds of cracks when it Figure 15 brick wall cracks
has deformation: one is due to
thermal stress caused cracks on the wall; another one is due to
settlement of foundation caused cracks on the wall. The one caused
by thermal stress (except severe cracks) does not endanger the
structure safety, and often overlooked. But the one caused by
settlement reduces carrying capacity of wall, and causes the house
tilting. Horizontal cracks, vertical cracks, diagonal cracks and irregular
cracks can be happened on brick-concrete wall.

4.1 Characteristics of Cracks caused by Thermal stress

1. Vertical cracks
There are three kinds of vertical cracks caused by thermal stress.
First crack run-through from top to bottom of whole building. When
the floor is cast-in concrete deck element, due to the lowering

Figure 16 vertical cracks under window

Figure 17 vertical cracks under cornice

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temperature caused deck element shrink, but the deck element

bound to the wall, so that deck element under tension, it causes
deck element crack. If the building is long and doesnt set
expansion joints, then every certain distance occurs cracks which
run-through from top to bottom, and it normally happens around
window and door opening.
The second one happens under cornice and windowsill. It normally
happens on the building which built in cold regions; long wall
doesnt set expansion joints, no heating system or constructing
through winter.
The third one happens under the
connection
between
wall
and
reinforcement concrete beam. It
happens often when the beam is too
long, and sometimes it also happens
as diagonal crack.
Figure 18 cracks under beam
2. Horizontal cracks
There are two kinds of horizontal cracks caused by thermal stress.
One is normally happens on the joints under roof, cracks are
normally distributed along top of the wall, both ends of the wall are
worst. The other one happens around windowsill, it often happens
tall and wide building.

3. Diagonal cracks
The cracks caused by thermal
stress normally has three
kinds of shape. They are / \
shape, \ / shape and X
shape, / \ shape happens
more often than others.
Cracks
normally
happen
around both end one or two Figure 19 diagonal cracks on the top floor
openings of top floor facade, sometimes happens on gable.
In cold region, diagonal crack also happens under windowsill and
around the corner of wall. There are three reasons occur diagonal
crack happens: first the building is in cold region, second the
building has long faade and doesnt set expansion joint, third the
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building doesnt have heating system.

4.2 Characteristics of Crack caused by Settlement

Vertical cracks
When the foundation settlement under
the wall between two window openings
is
bigger
than
the
foundation
settlement under window, the vertical Figure 20 cracks under window caused
crack happens under windowsill, by settlement
because the different settlement
makes the wall under window have
different bending deformation.
When one part of foundation has
bigger settlement, then the top of wall
has tensile stress, it makes the wall
crack starting from top; this vertical
crack starts from the same vertical
point which foundation deformation.
These two vertical cracks top are wide
Figure 21 cracks caused by foundation
and bottom are narrow.
deformation

Horizontal cracks
There are two types of
horizontal cracks. First type
happens on the wall between
two window openings, and two
cracks happens together, one
is top corner, another one is
bottom corner, but different
sides. Settlement larger side Figure 22 horizontal cracks next to window caused
has the crack on the bottom by settlement
corner; settlement lower side has the crack on the top corner.
Another horizontal crack happens when the foundation partially
collapse, this kind of crack is rare. There are many reasons occur
foundation partially collapse, such as foundation flooding, winze,
drain, tombs under the foundation.
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/ \ or \ / Shape Cracks
When the middle of buildings
settlement bigger than both sides
settlement, / \ crack happens on
the wall. It often happens on the
building which has equal height.

Figure 23 / \ shape crack around window

opening

When the middle of buildings

settlement smaller than both sides
settlement, \ / shape crack
happens on the wall. It happens on
the equal height building on the soft
ground

Figure 24 \ / shape cracks around window

opening

When the faade has different

height and building is not separated,
the settlements are different
between high part foundation and
low part foundation; it makes
cracks near the connection between
high part of building and low part of
Figure 25 / \ shape cracks on different height
building.
building

Most of / \ shape cracks going through the windows from one corner
to other side corner, closer to window cracks are bigger, and the
direction is going up from bigger settlement side to smaller settlement
side. They are often happens on the bottom of faade, sometimes
happens on the top of faade; on equal height roof building, cracks
more happen on both end side of wall, less happen in the middle of
wall.

Diagonal cracks
When one side of foundation is
weaker or one side of building is
bigger, one side of settlement is
bigger than the other side
settlement; it causes diagonal
cracks on the wall.
Figure 26 cracks on different height building
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When the building plan has L,

. shapes, the connection
part of foundation overlap stress,
so that connection part has bigger
settlement, it causes cracks
around the connection part.
If the uneven settlement happens Figure 27 cracks on "L" shape building
on the building which has different
height on the faade and set expansion joints, both low and high part
of building will incline to the expansion joints, because sometimes the
expansion joint is too small or expansion joint filled with rubbish
during constructing, horizontal extrusion pressure occurs, it makes
the cracks on the low building.

4.3 Precaution of Brick-Concrete Construction Cracks

Cracks caused by thermal stress:
1. Cracks caused by thermal stress normally happen on the top
floor, so the roof should be insulated very well.
2. Should set reveals on roof covering, fill in elastic ointment in the
reveals, reinforcement bar must be separated reveal.
3. Increase mortar strength class on top floor, higher than design
requirement.
4. Set pouring belt every 15~20m on the connection between roof
and wall, pouring belt width should be 600~800mm. Set
reinforcement bar in the gap, cast concrete in the gap after
couple of weeks.
Cracks caused by settlement:
1. Prospect for ground soil, replace or fill in soil in weak part.
2. Set settlement joint between different types of construction,
different heights of construction.
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3. Set lintel brick under window in order to prevent vertical cracks

under window.
4. Increase the strength of top floor in order to improve the shear
strength of the wall.
5. Reduce the scale between length and height. The scale should
be lower or equal to 2.5 at soft ground.

4.4 Renovation of Brick-Concrete Construction Cracks

If the cracks happened, dont rush to deal with it, should carefully
observe. There are few ways to check the cracks: (1) paste a paper on
the cracks, after a while, if the paper is fractured, means the cracks
are expanding; (2) or use calcium plaster instead of paper. If the
cracks are expanding, it should be carried out by professional person.
According the situation, cracks can be renovated by different way.
1. Wiping with mortar: if the crack is not expanding anymore, and
doesnt affect the structural safety, wipe the crack use mortar
should be enough.
2. Change the bricks around cracks: if the cracks are irregular and the
width is different, remove bricks from both sides of cracks, spray
mortar into the wall, and then replace new bricks into the wall.
3. Spray mortar: if the crack are not severe, and doesnt need to
replace the bricks, spray mortar into wall and rendering on the
wall.
4. Demolish and rebuild part of crack wall: if the cracks harmful to the
structural safety, should replace the cracked wall. Add some
supports in new wall and use reinforcement bar to connect
between new wall and old wall.
5. Use reinforcement net: if the cracks happened, because the wall
material is not strong, place reinforcement net on the existing wall,
use steel bar go through the wall fix reinforcement net on the wall.

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5. Project Example Analysis and Measures

5.1 Introduction of Construction and Cracks
Office building of reinforcement concrete structure, length 29.8m,
width 12m, construction area 2900m2, brick-concrete external wall,
concrete internal wall, building completed in October 2003. Since May
2004, cracks start appearing, lower floor has worse cracks, the
biggest crack width is 2mm. According the investigation, there are
four kinds of severity cracks:
1. Cracks in the middle of non-load bearing wall, width 1~2mm,
perpendicular to ground, penetrate the wall, there are 1~2
small cracks near the big crack, account for about 23% of the
total number of cracks in the wall.
2. Step cracks, width 0.1~0.5mm,
normally do not penetrate, mostly in
the middle of wall, account for about
40% of total number of cracks in the
wall.
Figure 28 step cracks

3. There are small, narrow, non-penetrated horizontal cracks and

diagonal cracks on the connection between beam or column and
wall, account for about 7~8% of total number of cracks in the
wall.
4. There are diagonal cracks on the corner of window and door
openings, the widths are different, account for about 20% of
total number of cracks in the wall.

5.2 Cause Analysis

According the position and circumstances of cracks, the cracks mainly
due to the following:
1. Moisture content of concrete is too big.
2. Some of concrete element got wet in building site during
stacking.
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3. After erect the concrete element, immediately render the wall,

there is humidity still left in the wall.

5.3 Treatment Measures

Cracks caused by shrinkage of concrete in this building, and most of
them happened on non-load bearing wall, do not affect the structural
safety. So the treatment measures as follows:
1. Use high strength, small shrinkage, and micro-expansion
cement repair big cracks (the width bigger than 1.0mm).
Recess 10~15mm width, 10mm depth gap along the crack,
scrape 1~2mm depth rendering around crack, and then clear
the dust, spray water around crack, use 1:2.5 cement which
mixed with 10% of UEA expansive agent fill in the gap. After
3~7days leveling the surface of the wall.
2. For the small cracks (the width small than 1.0mm), scrape
rendering on the surface, and then use high strength flexible
putty to fill in the cracks, later use paper strip mixed lime mortar
cover the cracks.

6. Conclusion
Different types of building cracks were described in this dissertation.
It starts from the reason of cracks such as design, material,
construction techniques and so on; analyze the impact of various
types of cracks, identification method of cracks, precaution of cracks,
and then made a brief introduction of cracks renovation in real
project.
The cracks in concrete construction caused by the temperature and
humidity changes, uneven settlement and so on; such cracks
generally do not affect the use of structure, but the appearance of
cracks and expansion will reduce the durability of the structure.
Sunshine, season changes and some other reasons caused thermal
stress on concrete, it makes cracks, and reduce temperature changes
is the best way to prevent the cracks happening.
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Cracks caused by shrinkage are another main reason of concrete

construction. Concrete shrinkage mainly from cement shrinkage,
higher rate of water content causes higher shrinkage, so control the
rate of water content is very important. And also prevent the concrete
get wet in building site.
Settlement is also one of the main reasons which cause cracks. Check
ground soil carefully, if it is necessary should replace soil, and
reinforce foundation on soft ground.
There are a lot of reasons cause cracks, most of them can be prevent
before crack happens, and some of them cant be avoid but still
possible to be renovated.

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List of Illustrations
Figure 1 Joseph Aspdin & Portland Cement

Figure 2 Bridge on Chazelet castle, built in 1875 by Joseph Monier 5

Figure 3 aggregate

Figure 4 Slick-Pak II concrete pumping aid

Figure 5 cracks around window opening

11

Figure 6 the cracks around drilled hole

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Figure 7 crack below the beam

11

Figure 8 cracks on the column

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Figure 9 horizontal cracks on the middle of wall

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Figure 10 vertical cracks on the middle of wall

12

Figure 11 use steel wire mesh repair

13

Figure 12 fill in flexible putty

13

Figure 13 non-woven fabrics

13

Figure 14 flexible putty

13

Figure 15 brick wall cracks

14

Figure 16 vertical cracks under window

14

Figure 17 vertical cracks under cornice

14

Figure 18 cracks under beam

15

Figure 19 diagonal cracks on the top floor

15

Figure 20 cracks under window caused by settlement

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Figure 21 cracks caused by foundation deformation

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Figure 22 horizontal cracks next to window caused by settlement 16

Figure 23 / \ shape crack around window opening

17

Figure 24 \ / shape cracks around window opening

17

Figure 25 / \ shape cracks on different height building

17

Figure 26 cracks on different height building

17

Figure 27 cracks on "L" shape building

18

Figure 28 step cracks

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List of References
Internetsider:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnnyg1955/3598082511/ 2012 10
24
http://www.stmarysouthperth.com/ph_restorat.htm 2012 10 25
http://www.buildingresearch.com.np/services/srr/srr2.php 2012 10
25
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-28811647/stock-photo-crack-on-a
-concrete-wall.html 2012 10 25
http://info.seepage.com/chicago-basement-waterproofing-blog/
2012 10 25
https://byg-erfa.dk/revner-udbedring 2012 10 28
https://byg-erfa.dk/revner-udbedring#afsnit4 2012 10 28
http://gomixcoat.en.made-in-china.com/productimage/cMWEYnQlvv
po-2f0j00bMotZGrybSgz/China-Flexible-Wall-Putty-R4-.html
2012
10 28
http://www.bombayharbor.com/products/1610/Non_Woven_Cloth.h
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LONGHU LI

tml 2012 10 28
http://www.dollarpaisa.com/company/profile/1128/Guru_Exports.ht
m 2012 11 10
http://www.concretenetwork.com/anne_balogh/fritz.htm 2012 11 10
https://www.eeri.org/1988/11/saguenay-quebec/02-6/ 2012 11 10
https://www.eeri.org/2012/09/hojancha-costa-rica/shear-cracks-inbeam-near-main-stairways/ 2012 11 10
http://www.ashireporter.org/HomeInspection/Articles/Basement-Cra
cks-and-Leaks/1130 2012 11 10

Articles:
The causes of cracks and prevention measures(
) Deping Liu, Mar 2007
Concrete cracking and renovating method()
Chengyong Wang, Oct 2010
Concrete development of history and prospects(
) Xiaoqing Li, Feb 2010
Concrete cracks renovation()
Mar 2009

Jiang Zhang,

The strengths and weaknesses of the reinforced concrete structure

() Zhulong structural design ()
ANALYSIS OF MICROCRACKING IN EARLY AGE CONCRETE
SUBJECTED TO TEMPERATURE VARIATION BY ACOUSTIC EMISSION
HA NGOC SON, Sep 2010

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