Name: ……………………………VO HONG THANG……………………………….

Student ID: ……………………………155352………………………………………...

Part 1. Theory (4 points)
Question 1 (L.O.1.3) (1.0 point)
Distinguish between “damage”, “deterioration”, and “failure” (maximum of 100 words)
Question 2 (L.O.1.1) (1.0 point)
Present a procedure of ensuring service life of buildings and structures (maximum of 300
words)
Question 3 (L.O.1.4) (1.0 point)
List consequences corresponding to foundation deterioration (maximum of 100 words)
Question 4 (L.O.2.1) (1.0 point)
When may concrete strength of existing structures be evaluated? (Maximum of 50 words)
Present the evaluation method of concrete strength of existing structures used widely
(maximum of 50 words)
Part 2. Case studies (6 points)
Case study 1: (2 points)
Figure 1 shows one of bridges in Finland with a defect observed in the edge beam.

Figure 1. A bridge in Finland (Source: Google)

a. Specify a defect observed in the edge beam (L.O.1.2) (0.5 point) (maximum of 50 words).
b. List the possible causes of the defect (L.O.2.1 & L.O.2.2) (0.5 point) (maximum of 100
words).
c. Suggest potential solutions to repair the defect (0.5 point) (L.O.3.1) (0.5 point) (maximum of
100 words).
d. Present precaution to prevent the defect (L.O.4.1) (0.5 point) (maximum of 100 words).
MSMH: CI2037 3/3
Case study 2: (2 points)
Figure 2 shows deterioration of a reinforced concrete (RC) structure exposed to sea.
Figure 2. A RC structure exposed to sea (Source: Google)
a. Specify deterioration observed in Figure 2 (L.O.1.2) (0.5 point) (maximum of 50 words).
b. Give explanation for the most severe deterioration of RC structure exposed to tidal/splash
zone when compared with that exposed to atmospheric zone ( (L.O.1.3) (1.0 point) (maximum
of 200 words).
c. Present solutions to repair the deterioration of RC structure (L.O.3.1) (0.5 point) (maximum
of 100 words).
Case study 3: (2 points)
Figure 3 shows a deterioration detected on wall surface.

Figure 3. A deterioration of RC structure (Source: Google)

a. Specify a deterioration observed in Figure 3 (L.O.1.2) (0.5 point) (maximum of 50 words).
b. List possible causes of the deterioration (L.O.2.1 & L.O.2.2) (1.0 point) (maximum of 200
words).
c. Present precaution to prevent the deterioration (L.O.4.1) (0.5 point) (maximum of 100
words)
 SOLUTION
Part 1:
Question 1:
Damage: is the physical harm that is done to something or to someone’ s body. Its injuries or
harm to a person or a thing that reduces health value or usefulness.
Deterioration: the process of degeneration or reduction in quality to an inferior state of a
material. Concrete is an artificially created hard and composite construction material consisting
of three primary ingredients cement, aggregates, coarse aggregates and fine aggregates and
water.
Failure: Failure of Civil Engineering Structures could mean several Things It could be a
catastrophic failure or collapse; it could be a loss in functionality or it could mean a degradation
in the serviceability of the building to a level that would be uneconomic to maintain.
Question 2:
- Design and construction flow:
. Well and detail designs of concrete structure
. Placing reinforcement is done properly
- Environmental effect:
. Maintenance and repair
- Usage of materials:
. Quality of materials should be ensured by means of various test via several standards.
. Good quality of materials
- Quality of supervision:
. Construction work should be carried out as per the specification
. Quality assurance and quality control (QA and QC)
- Deterioration due to corrosion:
. Maintenance and repair
Question 3:
- No or lack of geological survey
- Inappropriate ground/sub-grade treatment
- Design errors such as unsuitable/improper solution for foundation design, …
- Construction errors such as poor workmanship, constructing not following the
design/regulation, use of poor materials, poor compaction, …
- Errors in operation and use (arbitrary change increasing the load on the foundation)
- Other factors (hot and dry weather, heavy rainfall, geological factors, lack of maintenance.
Question 4:
We may evaluate the concrete strength on existing structure when the test result of standard
strength of concrete at lab is not reliable.
Some evaluated methods:
- destructive method via the compression test on the concrete cores drilled from hardened
concrete at site.
- non-destructive method via using the rebound hammer or doing the pull-out test or ultrasonic
pulse velocity (UPV) or a combination of rebound hammer and UPV.

Part 2:
Question 1:
a) The surface of the concrete appears a lot of cracks and most of the surface has cracks
b) The possible causes of the defect:
- Map-cracking due to alkali-silica reaction.
- high alkali content ò the concrete, mainly contributed from the cement in the form of
K2O and Na2O.
- The water source can be from the surrounding cement paste or the environment.
- The number of reactive aggregates and the grain size of aggregates.
c) The potential solutions to repair the defect:
- If the concrete surface is not spalled and deteriorated:
. Provide adequate or improved drainage (to minimize availability of moisture.
. Apply claddings or coatings to further limit moisture ingress.
. Treat existing cracks to minimize future expansion (and direct moisture ingress, deicing
salt, etc.).
. Avoid future use deicing salts that will increase alkali content within the structure.
. Chemically suppress ASR using lithium compounds.
 - If the concrete surface is spalled and deteriorated, the deteriorated or spalled concrete
should be removed and replaced by new concrete having the following properties:
. Using non-reactive aggregates.
. Limiting the alkali content of concrete.
. Using supplementary cementing materials including fly ash, ground-granulated blast
furnace slag, and silica fume.
d) Precaution to prevent the defect:
- Clearly define the rights and responsibilities of the owner and users who have the basic
understanding of the project and are responsible for the project.
- Avoid error in survey, design, construction during the construction process and during
the operation and use process.

Question 2:
a) Deterioration of the figure is corrosion. Corrosion is the most severe within the splash
and tidal zones where alternate wetting and drying results in high chloride and oxygen
content.
b) - Corrosion of reinforcing steel causes expansive cracking that leads to premature
concrete, deterioration and expensive repairs.
- Basing on the figure, we can see that the splash zone is the section of the structure that
is intermittently in or out of seawater during the structure’s service life. And the intertidal
zone (sometimes referred to as the littoral zone) is the area that is exposed to the air at
low tide and underwater at high tide (the area between the low and high tide lines). Both
of zones have the range of the zone varies with the height of the sea’s rise and fall due to
daily tide cycles in the specific geographic area. The brackish water and exposure to
oxygen is corrosive, the wave action is constantly eroding the metal members and debris
and boats come in contact with the metal to cause damage. So that the reason why these
two zones are easy to get corroded.
c) - Deterioration of RC concrete can also be prevented by treating the concrete
with solutions of suitable salts or even acids in minor concentration.
- Clearly define the rights and responsibilities of the owner and users who have the basic
understanding of the project and are responsible for the project.
- Avoid error in survey, design, construction during the construction process and during
the operation and use process.
- Hydraulic additives is also helpful to prevent the deterioration of concrete. From the
consideration of permeability, the water-cement ratio is usually limited to 0.45 to 0.55.
- Using galvanic anodes-metallic materials that are more active than the steel and corrode
preferentially instead of the steel to provide electrical current to the embedded steel
reinforcement.
Question 3:

a) There is spalling of plaster layer of the wall. The surface of the plaster layer flakes off due
to using the improper or low-quality materials or mortar deterioration.
b) Possible causes of the deterioration: There is flaky and peeling painting on the wall
surface. The potential causes of this deterioration are due to:
. Water/humidity.
. Lack of surface preparation.
. Expired or low-quality paint.
. Improper application.

c) - Select construction project team including consultants, contractors, subcontractors,

architects, and engineers which are capable, reputable and responsible.
- Clearly define the rights and responsibilities of the owner and users who have basic
understanding of the project and are responsible for the project.
- Avoid errors in survey, design, construction during the construction process and during
the operation and use process.
- Check the installations and equipment regularly.
- Appoint the responsible/professional workers for checking/doing
maintenance/repairing.
- Ensure a proper and timely maintenance and repair of the building services.