Advanced RCC

Presented By – Ankit Panwar

Roll No. – 2K20/STE/03
CALCIUM CHLORIDE
• Many reinforced concrete structures have suffered from too much
chloride in the concrete mix
• When moisture and oxygen are present, carbonation occurs thus
allowing the reinforcement to rust and spalling of the concrete
surface
• Before 1980, it was used principally for frost protection and to
facilitate the rapid stripping of shutters
• But in the 1980s, the codes of practice and concrete specifications
were tightened to ensure that the rusting and spalling should not
happen again
• A school was shut in 1973 due to extensive corrosion of the
reinforcement of precast concrete beams due to the presence of too
much calcium chloride added during the manufacture hasten the
hardening of the cement.
• In 1974, the concrete roof of a school collapsed reason being too
much calcium chloride in the concrete, causing the reinforcement to
deteriorate and eventually fail
ALKALI–SILICA REACTION
• It is a heterogeneous chemical reaction that takes place in aggregate
particles between the alkaline pore solution of cement paste and
silica in the aggregate particles
• The reaction products occupy more space than the original silica so
the surface reaction sites are put under pressure
• At a certain point, the tensile stresses may exceed the tensile strength
and brittle cracks propagate
• The cracks radiate from the interior of the aggregate out into the
surrounding paste
• The cracks are empty when formed.
• Small particles may undergo complete reaction
without cracking.
• Formation of the alkali–silica gel does not cause expansion
of the aggregate
• In mainly unidirectional reinforced members, the cracks
become linear and parallel to the reinforcement
• The degree of cracking depends on the amount of
confining reinforcement
• One major concern was that ASR caused cracking that led
bits of concrete to fall off structural elements and hit
people below
LIGHTWEIGHT AGGREGATE
CONCRETE
• In 1960s, a firm used crushed brick rubble as aggregate in un-reinforced concrete
walls for six- and seven-storey blocks of flats
• Inspired by this, it was decided to try to develop a similar form of load-bearing
wall with adequate thermal insulation, made of lean-mix plain concrete with
light expanded clay aggregate (LECA)
• The strength of the wall concrete was reduced in stages
about 14 Mpa at 28 days for the four bottom storeys,
15 MPa for the next four storeys
8 MPa for the top storeys
the roof slab was reinforced LECA concrete with a strength of 3000 psi (21 MPa).
• And it was a success
• Inspired by this lightweight aggregate concrete was included in the
code of practice
• Minimum strength of 21 MPa was stipulated and required a richer mix
• The resulting effects of this on the thermal insulation and shrinkage
properties of the LECA concrete appear to have been overlooked
• Paraffin heaters were used instead of underfloor heating
• This, combined with the reduced thermal insulation of the external
walls, led to severe condensation
• Diagonal cracks that developed on the top floor of one of the blocks
within a short time due to lower shrinkage and greater thermal
expansion of the roof slab
• The only explanation for these cracks seemed to be that the internal
wall was drying out, and therefore shrinking and shortening
• The external wall with very little load to carry and exposed to the
British weather was not shortening at the same rate
• The porous LECA pellets were soaked just before the mixing of the
concrete, to prevent them from absorbing water from the fresh mix
and thus making it too stiff
• LECA concrete needed more time to dry out because of the water
reservoir above the required hydration of the cement