Defects in Concrete

Concrete Laboratory - Kalamboli

Cracks in concrete
 A common saying is that there are two
guarantees with concrete, one, it will get hard
and two, it will crack

Defects in
Causes

 Deterioration of concrete structure can be

attributed to many causes. Some of them are:-
 Design deficiencies
 Construction defects
- Material –ingredients selection and compatibility
mixture proportioning.
- poor workmanship, practices.
 Environment –exposure change
 Fire, earthquake etc.

Defects in
Cracks
 Cracking can be the result of one or a
combination of factors such as
 drying shrinkage,
 thermal contraction,
 restraint (external or internal) to shortening,
 sub-grade settlement,
 applied loads.
 Cracking can not be prevented but it can be
significantly reduced or controlled when the
causes are taken into account and preventative
steps are taken

Defects in
Cracks - continued

 A major problem associated with cracking is layman's

perception.
 Cracks can be unsightly but many consumers feel that if a
crack develops in their wall or floor that the product has
failed.
 In the case of a wall, if a crack is not structural, if it is not
too wide and there is no water leakage, then there is no
cause for concern.
 The acceptability of a crack depends on who you ask.

 It is in our best interest that we educate our customers

that the concrete will crack and when they should become
concerned.

Defects in
Design deficiencies
 Abrupt changes in section
 Abrupt changes in cross section may cause stress
concentration that would result in the cracking of
the members.
 Insufficient reinforcement at reentrant corner
and openings
 If due care is not taken in providing proper detailing
of reinforcement then it would lead to the cracking
of concrete due to stress concentration
 Inadequate provision for deflection
 If deflections in excess of the expected be there
then it will cause cracking of the walls and
partitions.

Defects in
Design deficiencies
 Inadequate expansion joints
 Inadequate expansion joint design (insufficient
travel) may manifest in spalling of concrete in the
vicinity of the expansion joint.
 Therefore a full range of possible temperature
differentials should be considered for their design.

Defects in
 Construction Defects

 Material related
 Reactive aggregate
- -Sulphate reactive
- -Alkali reactive aggregate – silica-carbonate
 Corroded steel
 Defective cement
 Unsuitable water

 Inadequate mixture proportioning

 Cement type and content
 w/c control- excess water and extra water-bleeding
 Improper workability
 Improper aggregate grading
 Admixture choice and dosage

Defects in
Construction Defects
 Workmanship and practices
 Improper alignment of formwork
 Movement of formwork
 Improper reinforcement placement
 Improper consolidation
-honeycombing – inadequate vibration
-segregation –over vibration
 Cold joints- delay in placement
 Improper , inadequate curing
 Premature removal of shuttering and shoring.

Defects in
In real life failures and disasters are traced to a
combination of factors and causes. It would be
naïve to arrive at a one to one “cause and effect”
relation

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Defects in
Poor formwork

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Defects in
Movement of formwork

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Defects in
Segregation

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Defects in
Stiff concrete

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Defects in
Congested Reinforcement

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Defects in
Plastic settlement

 Settlement cracks may develop over embedded

items, such as reinforcing steel, or adjacent to
forms or hardened concrete as the concrete settles
or subsides.
 Settlement cracking results from insufficient
consolidation (vibration), high slumps (overly wet
concrete) or a lack of adequate cover over
embedded items.

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Defects in
Plastic Settlement

Original
level
Shear
cracks

Void under
steel

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Defects in
Plastic Settlement - Drilled Core

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Defects in
Plastic settlement

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Defects in
Workability - slump

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Defects in
Compaction

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Defects in
Can You Move Concrete With a needle vibrator?

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Defects in
Poor vibration

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Defects in
Insufficient cover

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Defects in
Formwork removal

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Defects in
Crazing
 Crazing cracks are very fine and barely visible except when the
concrete is drying after the surface has been wet. The cracks
encompass small concrete areas less than 50 mm (2 in.) in
dimension, forming a chicken-wire pattern.
 The term “map cracking” is often used to refer to cracks that
are similar to crazing cracks only more visible and surrounding
larger areas of concrete.
 Although crazing cracks may be unsightly and can collect dirt,
crazing is not structurally serious and does not ordinarily
indicate the start of future deterioration.
 To prevent crazing, curing procedures should begin early,
within minutes after final finishing when weather conditions
warrant.
 When the ambient temperature is high, some method of curing
with water should be used, since this will stop rapid drying and
lower the surface temperature.
 The concrete should be protected against rapid changes in
temperature and moisture wherever feasible.
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Defects in
Crazing

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Defects in
Surface blisters

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Defects in
Causes of blisters
 An excess amount of entrapped air held within the
concrete by a high percentage of fine material ( passing
600 μm, 300 μm, and 150 μm)
 Insufficient vibration during compaction that does not
adequately release entrapped air
 Finishing when the concrete is still spongy. Tools used to
compact or finish the surface will tend to force the
entrapped air toward the surface. Blisters may not appear
after the first finishing pass. However, as the work
progresses (during the second or third pass), the front
edge of the trowel blade is lifted to increase the surface
density, and air under the surface skin is forced ahead of
the blade until enough is concentrated(usually near a piece
of large aggregate) to form blisters.

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Defects in
How to prevent blistering in concrete
 Do not use concrete with a high slump, excessively high
air content, or excess fines
 Avoid overworking the concrete.

 Do not attempt to seal (finish) the surface too soon.

 Use proper finishing techniques and proper timing during

and between finishing operations.
 Flat floating and flat troweling are often recommended.

 Hand floating should be started when a person standing on

a slab makes a 5-mm (1/4-in.) imprint

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Defects in
De-lamination

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Defects in
De-lamination
 De-laminations are similar to blisters in that delaminated areas of
surface mortar result from bleed water and bleed air being
trapped below the prematurely closed (densified) mortar surface.
 The primary cause is finishing the surface before bleeding has
occurred.
 De-laminations are also more likely to occur when factors that
extend the bleeding time of concrete (e.g. cold substrate) are
combined with factors that accelerate surface setting (e.g. high
ambient air temperature).
 It is necessary to wait for a period of time after placing the
concrete to allow air and water to escape from the concrete.
 The waiting period varies with the concrete mixture, mixing and
placing procedures, and weather conditions.
 De-laminations are very difficult to detect during finishing and
become apparent after the concrete surface has dried and the
delaminated area is crushed under traffic

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Defects in
Dusting

 Dusting is the result of a thin, weak layer, called

laitance, composed of water, cement, and fine
particles.
 One way to correct a dusting surface is to grind
off the thin layer of laitance to expose the solid
concrete underneath

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Defects in
Causes of dusting
 Floating and troweling concrete with bleed water on it
mixes the excess water back into the surface, further
weakening the concrete’s strength and wear resistance and
giving rise to dusting.
 Dusting may also be caused by
 water applied during finishing,
 exposure to rainfall during finishing,
 spreading dry cement over the surface to accelerate
finishing
 low cement content
 too wet a mix
 lack of proper curing (especially allowing rapid drying of
the surface
 dirty aggregate.

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Defects in
Dusting

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Defects in
Plastic Shrinkage
 Plastic-shrinkage cracks are most common in slabs and are
relatively short cracks that may occur before final finishing
 At low humidity, and high temperature. surface moisture
evaporates faster than it can be replaced by rising bleed
water.
 Surface shrinks more than the interior concrete. As the
interior concrete restrains shrinkage of the surface
concrete, stresses develop that exceed the concrete's
tensile strength, resulting in surface cracks.
 Plastic-shrinkage cracks are of varying lengths spaced
from a few centimeters up to 3 metre apart and often
penetrate to mid-depth of a slab.

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Defects in
Plastic shrinkage

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Defects in
Joints
 The use of joints is an effective method of
preventing the formation of unsightly cracking.
 If a sizeable length or expanse of concrete, such
as walls, slabs, or pavements, is not provided
with adequate joints to accommodate shrinkage,
the concrete will make its own joints by cracking.

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Defects in
Construction joints – ACI 302.1
 For unreinforced, plain concrete slabs, joint spacing of
24 to 36 times the slab thickness, up to a maximum
spacing of 18 ft (5.5 m), have produced acceptable
results. Some random cracking should be expected.
 Joint spacing in nominally reinforced slabs
(approximately0.2% steel placed within 2 in. - 50
mm) of the top of the slab) can be increased
somewhat beyond that recommended for
unreinforced, plain concrete slabs, but the incidence
of random cracking and curling will increase.
Reinforcement will not prevent cracking. If the
reinforcement is properly sized and located, cracks
that do occur should remain tightly closed

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Defects in
Joints

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Defects in
Poor construction joint

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Defects in
Inadequate construction joint

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Defects in
Good construction joint

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Defects in
 Drying shrinkage
 Cracks that occur after hardening usually are the result of drying
shrinkage.
 Hardened concrete will shrink about 1/16 in. in 10 ft of length The
major factors controlling ultimate drying shrinkage of concrete
include relative humidity, aggregate type and content (or paste
content), water content, and w/cm
 The major factor influencing the drying shrinkage properties of
concrete is the total water content of the concrete. As the water
content increases, the amount of shrinkage increases
proportionally.
 Large increases in sand content and significant reductions in the
size of the coarse aggregate increase shrinkage, as total water is
increased and smaller size coarse aggregates provide less internal
restraint to shrinkage.
 Within the range of practical concrete mixes 5- to 8-bag mixes
cement content – increases in cement content have little to no
effect on shrinkage as long as the water content is not increased
significantly.
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Defects in
Drying shrinkage cracks

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Defects in
Shrinkage

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Defects in
Thermal cracking
 Concrete has a coefficient of thermal expansion and
contraction of about 9.9 x 10-6 per °C.
 Concrete placed during hot midday will contract as it cools
during the night. A 10°C drop in temperature between day
and night is common.
 This would cause about 0.01 in. of contraction in a 10-ft
length of concrete,
 Thermal expansion also causes cracking.

 The coefficient of thermal expansion for concrete is

influenced more by aggregate type than by any other
factor Quartz has the highest coefficient of thermal
expansion of the common minerals and the
coefficient of thermal expansion of concrete is often
related to the quartz content of the aggregates
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Defects in
Transverse cracking- thermal shrinkage

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Defects in
Foundation cracks
 Shrinkage cracks are usually uniform in width.
Sometimes, they are vee-shaped, wider at top
and diminishing or stopping before reaching the
bottom of the foundation wall (where attachment
to footing may tend to hold foundation wall
materials in place).
 A wall crack which continues into the floor is
likely to involve the building footings and may be
a settlement crack of more structural importance

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Defects in
 Foundation crack

Crack width uniform -

cause settlement and
poor footing.

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Defects in
Patterns of crack
 In masonry between two structures - differential
settlement or thermal movement
 Straight or wandering, in poured concrete, generally
even width, intermittent, or more often straight -
shrinkage / thermal - low risk
 Straight generally even width, in a masonry block wall,
in mortar joints but possibly right through concrete block -
shrinkage / thermal - low to modest risk
 Straight or stepped in brick, esp. near ends of wall -
expansion / thermal, potentially dangerous if wall bond
courses are broken, collapse risk.
 In wall, wider at bottom than top - settlement under
building. These cracks may be less serious than horizontal
when found in a masonry block wall. These cracks could be
quite serious when found in a brick wall, especially if bond
courses are broken and there is risk of collapse.

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Defects in
Probable cause of diagonal foundation cracks in
buildings

 From corner towards adjacent opening, wider at top than

bottom - often due to foundation settlement, expansive
clay soil,, or damage from a tree close to the foundation
wall.
 Under a ground floor window, from sill to ground, sill
bowed up - often due to foundation heave, clay soil, frost,
shallow or absent footings
 Over window/door, straight or diagonal – lintel beam
defect - may appear as horizontal along top or bottom of,
vertical at ends of the beam (possibly due to differences in
thermal expansion of different materials of beam vs. wall)
or vertical/diagonal at center of beam (loading failure) or
at corners (possible point load failure

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Defects in
General guidelines to reduce- avoid cracks
 Use proper sub-grade preparation, including uniform
support and proper sub-base material at adequate
moisture content.
 Minimize the mix water content by maximizing the size
and amount of coarse aggregate and use low-shrinkage
aggregate.
 Use the lowest amount of mix water required for
workability.
 Avoid using excessive amounts of cementitious materials.
 Do not permit overly wet consistencies.
 Prevent rapid loss of surface moisture while the concrete
is still plastic through use of spray-applied finishing aids
or plastic sheets to avoid plastic-shrinkage cracks.
 Provide contraction joints at reasonable intervals, 30
times the slab thickness.
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Defects in
General guidelines to reduce- avoid cracks
 Provide isolation joints to prevent restraint from
adjoining elements of a structure.
 Properly place, consolidate, finish, and cure the
concrete.
 Consider using synthetic fibers to help control plastic
shrinkage cracks.

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Defects in
Corrosion

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Defects in
Corrosion

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Defects in
Impressed Current Cathodic Protection
 This is a continuous process of repairs.

 This technique involves the application of a low, direct

current (DC) from a permanent anode like graphite,
platinum, titanium, which are used for marine structures,
usually positioned on the concrete surface to the
reinforcing steel.
 Sufficient current is used to stop the anodic reaction of the
steel and to maintain the reinforcing steel in the cathodic
state.
 One of the features of the system is the permanent
requirement for a D.C power source and the requirement
for regular monitoring and maintenance.

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Defects in
Cathodic Protection using sacrificial anode
or Galvanic Protection ( GP)
 Cathodic protection using sacrificial anodes is commonly
being used now a days for protecting reinforced concrete.
 This operates on a similar principal of Cathodic protection,
except that the sacrificial anode, composed of a more
reactive metal than steel (usually zinc), corrodes
preferentially to the steel as a result of a difference in
potential between the two metals, thus providing th
necessary current required to maintain the reinforcing
steel in cathodic state.
 Various configurations of the galvanic zinc have been
successfully used to provide cathodic protection in the tidal
zone of steel reinforced concrete structures.
 This simple system is an alternative for their low
installation and maintenance costs, simplicity and by their
reliable, self regulating performance.

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Defects in
Conditions for Alkali Aggregate Reaction-AAR
 In most concrete, aggregates are more or less
chemically inert. However, some aggregates
react with the alkali hydroxides in concrete,
causing expansion and cracking over a period of
many years. This alkali-aggregate reaction has
two forms—
 alkali-silica reaction (ASR)

 alkali-carbonate reaction (ACR).

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Defects in
Alkali-silica reaction (ASR)
 ASR is of more concern because aggregates containing
reactive silica materials are more common.
 In ASR, aggregates containing certain forms of silica will
react with alkali hydroxide in concrete to form a gel that
swells as it adsorbs water from the surrounding cement
paste or the environment.
 These gels can swell and induce enough expansive
pressure to damage concrete

 AAR takes place only when

 A sufficiently high alkali content of the cement (or alkali
from other sources)
 A reactive aggregate, such as chert
 Water - ASR will not occur if there is no available water
in the concrete, since alkali-silica gel formation requires
water

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Defects in
ASR

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Defects in
Alkali-carbonate reactions (ACR)
 ACR are observed with certain dolomitic rocks.,

 Breaking down of dolomite, is normally associated with

expansion. This reaction and subsequent crystallization of
brucite ( Mg(OH)2) may cause considerable expansion.
 The deterioration caused by ACR is similar to that caused
by ASR; however, ACR is relatively rare because
aggregates susceptible to this phenomenon are less
common and are usually unsuitable for use in concrete for
other reasons.
 Aggregates susceptible to ACR tend to have a
characteristic texture that can be identified by
petrographers.

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Defects in