Title: Defects in Concrete

Date: Monday, 18 November

2019
 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 Concrete
 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 Concrete
 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 Concrete
 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 Concrete
 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 Concrete
 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 Concrete
Poor formwork

Defects in Concrete
Movement of formwork

Defects in Concrete
 Segregation

Defects in Concrete
 Stiff concrete

Defects in Concrete
Congested Reinforcement

Defects in Concrete
 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.

Defects in Concrete
 Plastic Settlement

Original
level

Shear
cracks

Void under
steel

Defects in Concrete
Plastic settlement

Defects in Concrete
 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.

Defects in Concrete
Plastic shrinkage

Defects in Concrete
Workability - slump

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 Poor vibration

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Insufficient cover

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Formwork removal

Defects in Concrete
 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.

Defects in Concrete
 Crazing

Defects in Concrete
Surface blisters

Defects in Concrete
 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.

Defects in Concrete
 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

Defects in Concrete
 De-lamination

Defects in Concrete
 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).

Defects in Concrete
 De-lamination

• 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

Defects in Concrete
 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

Defects in Concrete
 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.

Defects in Concrete
 Dusting

Defects in Concrete
 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.

Defects in Concrete
 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

Defects in Concrete
 Joints

Defects in Concrete
Poor construction joint

Defects in Concrete
Good construction joint

Defects in Concrete
 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.

Defects in Concrete
Drying shrinkage cracks

Defects in Concrete
 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.

Defects in Concrete
 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.

Defects in Concrete
 Corrosion

Defects in Concrete
 Corrosion

Defects in Concrete
 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.

Defects in Concrete
 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.
Defects in Concrete
 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).

Defects in Concrete
 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

Defects in Concrete
 ASR

Defects in Concrete
 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.

Defects in Concrete