RRS Module-1 Notes
RRS Module-1 Notes
Module -1
Repair: To bring back the position of the structure to its previous condition so it gives
performance same as previously. It doesn’t cover the strength aspect of the structures.
Some examples of repair:
Decoration of structure, Painting, White Washing
Checking the wiring of building
Replastering of any wall if required
Repairing of damaged flooring
Repair of door and window
Checking or repairing of pipe line connections, gas line connections and plumbing serveries.
Relaying disturbed roof tiles
Retrofitting:
Earthquake creates great devastation in terms of life, money and failures of structures.
Seismic Retrofitting is a collection mitigation technique for Earthquake Engineering.
It is the modification of existing structures to make them more resistant to seismic activity,
ground motion, or soil failure due to earthquakes.
The retrofit techniques are also applicable for other natural hazards such as tropical cyclones,
tornadoes, and severe winds from thunderstorms.
Preventive measures:
Use of low water cement ratio.
Adequate air entrainment has been found effective to control the freezing damage.
Use of durable aggregate
Designing the structure to minimize the exposure to moisture i.e. providing positive drainage
rather than flat surfaces.
Construction errors
Failure to follow specified procedures and good practice or outright carelessness may
lead to number of conditions that may be grouped together as construction errors.
Design Errors
Design errors mainly due to:
Inadequate structural design
Poor design details
Abrupt changes in section
Insufficient reinforcement at corners and openings
Inadequate provision for deflection
Inadequate provision for drainage
Insufficient travel in expansion joints
Incompatibility of materials
Rigid joints between precast units
Inadequate joint spacing in slab
Changes in temperature
Changes in temperature cause a corresponding change in the volume of the concrete.
Basically there are 3 temperature change phenomena that may cause damage to concrete.
First there are temperature changes generated internally by the heat of hydration of
cement.
Second there are temperature changes generated by variations in climatic conditions.
Third there are temperature changes generated from external source-fire damage.
Internally generated temperature differences:
Mechanism: The hydration of Portland cement is an exothermic chemical reaction. In large
volume placements significant amount of heat may be generated. The temperature rise is not
uniform throughout the mass of the concrete and temperature gradients developed. These
temperature gradients give rise to a situation those outer portions of concrete loosing heat while
inner portions are gaining. If this difference is more cracks may occur. This is known as internal
restraint condition.
Due to that internal restraint condition, as the concrete mass begins to cool a reduction in
volume takes place.
If that reduction is prevented by external conditions the concrete is externally restrained and
cracking occurs.
Symptoms:
• Cracks from internal restraint will be shallow and isolated.
• Cracks from external restraints will extend to full section
• Temperature induced cracks are perpendicular to large dimensions of concrete.
Preventive measures:
• Using low heat cement
• Placing concrete at minimum practical temperatures
• Selecting aggregate should have low moduli of elasticity and low coefficient of thermal
expansion
Symptoms:
Visual examination show regularly spaced cracking
Spalling at expansion joints Preventive measures:
Use contraction and expansion joints
Provision of reinforcing steel will help to distribute cracks and minimize the size of them
Department of Civil Engineering, SJCIT, Chickballapur Page 4
Rehabilitation and Retrofitting of structures
Fire on concrete
A fire in concrete structures causes damage. The extent of which depends up on intensity and
duration of the fire
The principal types of damages are:
Reduction in strength of concrete
Cracking and spalling of concrete
Deflection and deformation members
Dis coloration
In RC structures fire resistance is depend on type of concrete and thickness of cover.
The fire introduces high temperature gradients and as a result of it surface layers tend to
separate and spall from surface.
The heating of reinforcement expands both laterally and longitudinally resulting in loss of
bond and loss of strength of reinforcement. If concrete subjected to above 3000C definite
loss of strength takes place.
Abrasion and erosion
Abrasion refers to wearing away of the surface by friction.
Erosion refers to wearing away of the surface by fluids.
Cavitation refers to the damage due to non-linear flow of water.
The concrete used in the roads, floors, the pavements and the concrete used in the
hydraulic structures should exhibit resistance against abrasion, erosion and cavitation.
The more compressive strength the higher the resistance to abrasion erosion and
cavitation
The shape and surface texture of aggregate plays an important part in the abrasion
resistance of the concrete.
Use of steel fibers and polymer based systems in concrete matrix improves abrasion
resistance of concrete
Plastic shrinkage
During the period between placing and setting, most concrete will exhibit bleeding to
some degree. Bleeding is the appearance of moisture on the surface of the concrete.
Usually the bleed water evaporates slowly from the concrete surface. If environmental
conditions are such that evaporation is occurring faster than water is being supplied to
the surface by bleeding, so high tensile stresses can develop.
The stresses lead to development of cracks on the concrete surface. Generally these
cracks are wide and shallow.
The primary cause of plastic shrinkage cracks is rapid evaporation of water from the
surface of concrete.
These cracks occur within few hours after placing concrete.
These cracks occur on horizontal surfaces spaced 0.3m to 1.0m apart
They can be deep and width varying from 0.1mm to 3mm.
Drying Shrinkage
It is the long term change in volume of concrete caused by the loss of moisture.
If this shrinkage take place without any restraint there would be no damage to the
concrete.
Generally concrete structure is subjected to some degree of restraint by foundation, by
another part of structure, or by the difference in shrinkage between the concrete at the
surface and that in the interior of a member.
The combination of shrinkage and restraints causes tensile stresses that can lead to
cracking
Symptoms
Drying shrinkage is caused by physical loss(evaporation) and chemical loss (hydration)of
water during the hardening process.
These cracks appear at 7-10 days after concreting and 80% of drying shrinkage takes
place in about a year.
Drying shrinkage influenced by a number of factors such as cement content, water
content, aggregates, curing, temperature.
These cracks generally confined to nonstructural members.
Total drying shrinkage is made up of irreversible shrinkage and reversible shrinkage
Preventive measures:
Use of minimum water content
Use of highest possible aggregate content
Providing adequate and early curing
Eliminate the external restraints as much as possible.
Sulphate attack
Sulphate occur in both soil and ground water
Solid sulphate does not attack the concrete severely
But water sulphate enter into porous concrete and react with the hydrated cement
product(HPC) forming a whitish appearance
This indicates sulphate attack.
Increase in the volume of cement paste in concrete or mortar due to chemical reaction
between the product of HPC and solution containing sulphates
In hardened concrete C-A-H can react with sulphate salt from outside, forming calcium
sulphoaluminate in the frame work of HCP.
Due to the increase in volume of the solid phase (which can go up to 227%) a gradual
disintegration of concrete takes place.
Sulphate attack manifest in the form of expansion and cracking of concrete.
Acid Attack
Concrete is susceptible to acid attack because of its alkaline nature. The components of the
cement paste break down during contact with acids.
The decomposition of the concrete depends on the porosity of the cement paste, on the
concentration of the acid, the solubility of the acid calcium salts and on the fluid transport
through the concrete
The degree of attack increases as acidity increases. The rate of attack also depends on the
ability of hydrogen ions to be diffused through cement gel after Ca (OH)2 has been
dissolved and reached out.
Places where acid attack encountered are:
Concrete is used for the storage of many kinds of liquids, some of which are harmful to
concrete
Acid attack is encountered also under industrial conditions.in industrial plants, concrete
floors come in contact with acids, which damage the floors
In damp condition SO2 and CO2 and other acid fumes present in the atmosphere affect
concrete by dissolving and removing part of the set concrete. This form attack occurs in
chimneys and stream railway tunnels
Sewerage water also very slowly causes deterioration of concrete.
If acids or salts are able to reach the reinforcement steel through porosity of concrete,
corrosion of reinforcement takes place.
Department of Civil Engineering, SJCIT, Chickballapur Page 9
Rehabilitation and Retrofitting of structures
Short column
This type of mechanism can be developed due to structural adjustments and/or to
continuous openings at the top of infill walls between columns.
Lateral forces that occurred by an earthquake are carried by columns and shear walls.
Length of column is an important factor for dissipation of these loads.
When the length of column decreases, the column becomes stiffer and brittle than the
other columns and this column attracts more shear forces. Thus, shear failure which is a
critical type of concrete column damage occurs at these columns.
Corner damages
Corner damages are common in the adobe and masonry buildings.
During an earthquake, the stress concentrations increase at intersection of the walls. In this
way, vertical or inclined cracks appear in the corners of masonry buildings.
If bond beams are not used in the corners or connection, two walls are not properly anchored
each other, intensity of the cracks increases and these cracks spread along the height of the
wall. Similar cracking may have been observed at adobe buildings .
Poor connections between adjacent walls and the absence of bond beams cause serious
damages. In addition, there are no appropriate connections at the corner of the walls in
damaged buildings.
Out-of-plane mechanism
Out-of-plane mechanism may appear from the combination of several deficiencies. A lack of
bond beams, poor connections among the walls and the roofs, and large unsupported wall
lengths cause the separation of walls and cause damage to occur via the of out-of-plane
mechanism.
Thus, the whole or the significant parts of the wall fall down during the earthquake. Wooden
logs that bear the weight of the floor of the building are generally placed on load-bearing
walls in only one direction. Thus, earthquake loads are transferred to perpendicular walls by
wooden logs. Therefore, the walls that are not supported by the wooden logs may easily
overturn to out-of-plane direction during the earthquake. This failure mechanism can be
commonly observed in the earthquake region
Department of Civil Engineering, SJCIT, Chickballapur Page 13
Rehabilitation and Retrofitting of structures
In-plane mechanism
The seismic performance of the masonry buildings relates to the in-plane stiffness of the
walls.
In-plane mechanism is generally observed in most of the masonry buildings that are
affected by shear cracking. Earthquake loads increase the shear force. It can damage walls
and their connections.
These damages generally occur near openings, because most of the masonry buildings
don’t have sufficient and proper bond beams that distribute the lateral forces uniformly and
enhance the lateral strength of the walls.
During the earthquakes, excessive bending and shear can produce in-plane failures
depending on the aspect ratio of the unreinforced masonry elements .
In the areas struck by earthquake, three failure modes of the shear damages in masonry
buildings are generally observed, namely diagonal shear failures that proceed through
masonry units and mortar