Joints in Concrete Structures

Concrete is a hard and resilient material. It can withstand all kinds of weather conditions, is
easy to maintain, and will last for a long time. This resilience makes it a great building
material, which is why it’s used in most modern construction projects. Unfortunately, its
strength can also be its weakness. Concrete cannot stretch and bend because it is not flexible
like wood. When the concrete expands and contracts because of the weather conditions, its
surface inevitably cracks under the pressure and can become weak. The only way to avoid
this is to add joints to the concrete.
Joints in building construction are
1. Construction joints
2. Expansion joints
3. Contraction joints
Construction joints:
They include all the joints that require work in the floors, ceilings, thresholds and
connections between the various structural parts according to the construction stages of the
implementation of the action. For example, a concrete floor may be casted in two stages as a
result of working conditions rather than one stage casting. In this place, a construction joint is
required to construct where low shear forces is applied.
The widely used and most important types of construction joints are as follows:
a. Structural joints on floors and ceilings with constant rectangular section in the upper
department filled with flexible materials. Rebar continues in the detailed section, which is
a kind of partial separation.

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b. Structural joints with partial separated floors where some reinforcement is added in the
detailed site to strengthen the floor and increase the resistance of partial settlement and also
added flexible material at the top of the detailed and wooden bar passage triangle at the
bottom and reinforcement additive be equal spaces joined by lateral bar and sitting in his
position of detailed on the legs of a stretch reinforcement added.

c. Structural joints with a rubber or metal stainless like copper in the center of the joint for
floors and hydraulic structures to prevent moisture or water leakage through the joint.

d. Structural joints with constant rectangular section in the upper part filled with flexible
materials like rubber sheets and wooden triangular section from the bottom.

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e. Structural (key) or (joggle) joints, which work to strengthen the bond between the
structural parts of the unit into the joint, as well as to increase the water path and
obstruction in the case of water leakage through the joint. Sometimes, a rubber, metal or
polysulphide material is added in the convenient location of joint. A special mold for
this detailed work is used and requires a cut of continuity in the joint rebar so that this
does not conflict with the status of the mold.

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 Expansion joints:
All structures are subjected to the effects of daily or seasonally temperature changes.
These effects appear on the structural parts with different phenomena, including the
following:
1. For one of the traditional downstream material when one is exposed to heat more than
other, relative movement between the layers of matter is occurred and the forces that are
generated affect them and cause cracking. This can be addressed with a foreign material
interfaces that are affected by heat often when layers of cladding insulation material or
structural material, which are vulnerable to heat like brick are used.
2. For the composite material and the relative movement resulting from the variation
coefficient of expansion of the materials. This situation applies to most business seal
interfaces and flooring. This problem can be treated by the use of additives that increase
the cohesion of composite material parts to increase their resistance to the relative
movement in addition to the need of splitting of large spaces where possible to units
coordinated geometric forms and the use of metal spacers.
These processors are necessary for external interfaces because they are vulnerable than
others to the thermal effects directly.
3. The movement of expansion and contraction in the structures and connections between the
different units. This requires a detailed work provides, expanded the field of free
movement toward a specific and detailed as located. Expansion joints used in locations
where the relative movement occur between the blocks and disparate dimensional position
as in the details below:
a. Expansion joint between building long stretch high and low building with a large block
prevents thermal expansion movement between them or between the low construction
between two large blocks
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 Expansion joint

b. Expansion joint between old and new building

New build. Old build.

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 c. Expansion joint between the parts of building with T, L, and U top view

Expansion joint

d. Expansion joint for any building with dimension more than 30 meters

Action requires expansion joints wherever needed them the most basic details on some
basic things available in it as detailed and locate requirements. The most important of these
things and situations are:
1. Freedom of movement for all the detailed parts of joints, used rubber pad with metal panels
or high-pressure high-resistance steel and steel including galvanized or any other
substance that allows the movement of the joint parts easily without causing any frictional
resistance.

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2. Filling of expansion joints when necessary with compressible materials such as bitumen
materials, cork, or rubber materials.

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3. Using of metal materials of galvanized iron sheets, copper or a special rubber for detailed
work stretch closed to prevent water leakage or external moisture via the expansion joint.

4. Adding of special details to hide the expansion joints of the one or two destinations by the
joint location in the walls, floors or thresholds or contacts between these units.

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5. Use of dowel bars: Expansion joints consist of a flexible piece of compressible board topped
with a waterproof sealant and sandwiched between adjacent bays or between the concrete slab
and another fixed object. For a dowelled expansion joint, the dowel should be de-bonded to
half-length to prevent it 'sticking' to the concrete and thereby limiting free movement. In
heavy duty applications, such as roadways, the de-bonded half is sleeved and capped, or
sheathed in plastic film, to ensure free movement. Provision must be made to support the
dowels and maintain their accurate alignment while the first bay hardens. The flexible board
will need to be drilled to accommodate the dowels and the edges of the expansion joint should
be arrissed to prevent spalling. Once the second bay has hardened, the expansion joint can be
sealed with a suitable sealant to prevent ingress of water, salts or detritus.

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 Contraction joints:
A contraction joints is a sawed, formed, or tooled groove in a concrete slab that creates a
weakened vertical plane. It regulates the location of the cracking caused by dimensional
changes in the slab. Unregulated cracks can grow and result in an unacceptably rough surface
as well as water infiltration into the base, subbase and subgrade, which can enable other
types of pavement distress. Contraction joints are the most common type of joint in concrete
pavements, thus the generic term “joint” generally refers to a contraction joint. Contraction
joints are chiefly defined by their spacing and their method of load transfer. They are
generally ¼- ⅓ the depth of the slab and typically spaced every 13-15 m.

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