Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Submitted To:-Submitted By:-: Ar. Manoj Jain Toshnidhi Gupta Mohd. Yusuf Kaushal Tiwari
Submitted To:-Submitted By:-: Ar. Manoj Jain Toshnidhi Gupta Mohd. Yusuf Kaushal Tiwari
Structural cracks
Non-structural cracks
Type Width
Thin < 1 mm
Medium 1-2 mm
Wide > 2 mm
Vertical Straight Uniform
Horizontal Toothed throughout
Diagonal Stepped Narrow at one
Map pattern end and gradually
widening at the
Random other
Main causes of occurrence of cracks in buildings are as follows:
DRYING SHRINKAGE
THERMAL MOVEMENT
ELASTIC DEFORMATION
CREEP
CHEMICAL REACTION
FOUNDATION MOVEMENT AND SETTLEMENT OF SOIL.
GROWTH OF VEGETATION.
Drying shrinkage is defined as the contracting of a hardened concrete mixture
due to capillary water, this causes an increase in tensile stress which may lead
to cracking and warping.
Effects of creep:-
Increasing the deflection in larger span beams.
Buckling of slander columns
Buckling of cladding in tall buildings
Buckling of slander columns
Due to creep
Certain chemical reactions in building materials results in appreciable
increase in volume of materials. The materials taking part in reaction also
become weak and lose strength .
Common instances of chemical reaction are:-
Sulphate attack on cement products.
Carbonation of reinforcement and brickwork, and
Alkali-aggregate reaction.
FOUNDATION MOVEMENT AND
SETTLEMENT OF SOIL
Shear cracks in buildings occur when there is large diffferential settlement of
foundation due to one of the following causes:
Unequal bearing pressure under different parts of the structure,
Bearing pressure being in excess of bearing strength of the soil,
Low factor of safety in the design of foundations,
Local variations in the nature of supporting soil, which remained undetected and
could not be taken care of in the foundation design at the construction.
GROWTH OF VEGETATION
Roots of a tree generally spread horizontally on all sides to the extent of
height of the tree above the ground and when trees are located in the vicinity
of a wall, these should be viewed with suspicion
They can cause cracks in walls due to expansive action of roots growing
under the foundation.
Do not let trees grow too close to buildings, compounds walls, etc. If any
saplings of trees start growing in fissures of walls etc. remove them at the
earliest opportunity.
If some large trees exist close to a building and these are not causing any
problem, as far as possible, do not disturb these trees if soil under the
foundation happens to be shrinkable clay.
If from any site intended for new construction, vegetation including trees
have been removed and the soil is shrinkable clay, do not commence
construction activity on that soil until it undergone expansion and stabilized
after absorbing moisture in at least one rainy season.
GENERAL MEASURES FOR PROTECTION OF CRACKS..
The measures for prevention of cracks could be broadly grouped under the following main sub
heads :-
a) Selection of materials:-
Good quality of building materials according to the specification if used that will minimize the
cracks in the building.