DISTRESS OF CONCRETE STRUCTURES

& THEIR REPAIR TECHNIQUES

CONSTRUCTION & MATERIALS III
PRESENTED BY: MOHAMMAD ZAID & MOHAMMAD FARZAN
PRESENTED TO : AR. KHALID HASAN

INTRODUCTION
If a building has given about 25v to 30 years of service without much
maintenance or repair then it is reasonable to expect that it would need
some repair sooner or later.
CATEGORIES OF REASONS DISTRESS OF CONCRETE STRUCTURES
1.

WEATHERING

2.

AGEING

3.

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS

4.

INADEQUATE MAINTENANCE

5.

POOR DESIGNING AND CONSTRUCTION QUALITY

6.

CHANGE OF LOADING PATTERN OR NON CONVENTIONAL LOADING ON

STRUCTURE

7.

WATER LEAKAGE LEADING TO CORROSION OF CONCRETE STRUCTURE

PERFORMANCE OF CONCRETE STRUCTURE DEPENDS UPON:

1.

QUALITY OF CONCRETE

2.

AMBIENT CONDITIONS

EXPECTED SERVICE LIFE OF STRUCTURES

Life span of RCC is generally taken as 100 years
EXPECTED CONVENTION ABOUT DESIGN LIFE SPAN
Monumental structure like temple ,mosque or church is 500 to
1000 yrs.
Steel bridges ,steel buildings or similar structures is 100 to 150
yrs.
Concrete bridges or hign rise buildings or stone bridges is 100
yrs.
A house or general building is 60 to 80 yrs.
Highways :concrete pavement for about 30 to 35 yrs and

COMMON FAILURE MODES OF R.C.C.

Cracks, potholes and erosion of the top layer of
concrete, rusting of reinforcement, splitting etc.
Cracking is the most common phenomenon in
concrete structures.
Cracking of concrete section cannot be
prevented but size and location of the cracks can
be limited & controlled by reinforcement,
placement of control joint, and better concreting
and curing

CAUSES OF EARLY DETERIORATION OF CONCRETE

STRUCTURES
Poor workmanship : untrained man power and bad
quality of construction
Inadequate cover to reinforcement.
Loosely fitted joints.
Excessive water cement ratio
The IS: 456:2000 has laid down upper limits for water
cement ratio, normally it need about 15 to 18 lts. Of water
per 50kg bag of cement.
With this quantity of water concrete will be stiff and
uncompact able so we mix additional water for workability.
This extra water after evaporation leaves out minute

Inadequate concrete cover

Bars are not bent accurately or may not be
effectively fixed to ensure that specified gap is
left between bars and form work while often not
only bars touch formwork but also the binding
wires loose ends and the steel bars are seen at
the surface of concrete.
In that case, they are prone to moisture.
Honey comb or Un vibrated concrete
Porous concrete is a major source of weakness in
concrete.
Un-compacted concrete results in honey combing
which gives low compressive strength and

Cold joints or bad construction

joints
A cold joint is a joint where fresh concrete is
placed against a previous un-compacted concrete
which has already hardened due to lapses of time
that is more than concrete setting time.

Inadequate reinforcement
Many a contractor does not put enough
reinforcement in concrete structural member s
and hence it fails under tension.

Wrong placing of reinforcement

Many times contractors do not know the correct

Inadequate cement quantity

IS: 456:2000 has laid down the minimum quantity
in concrete.
Minimum quantity of cement is needed not only
to coat the fine and coarse aggregate particles
but also to fill the voids between the aggregate
particles and to provide a thicker fill of cement
grout for easy workability.
Congested reinforcement bars
Too many steel bars in narrow and slender RCC
columns, walls or beams results in NO room for
having cover in concrete nor for inserting a
needle vibrator to ensure full compaction leading

Initially rust steel bars

Alkali aggregate reactivity
Under most conditions the reaction causes
excessive expansion and cracking of concrete
after few months or year.
Effect of weather and water leakage
Weather causes structure to delay.
Prolong exposure to polluted environ,ent and acid
rain can give weathered concrete anfd corrode
metal ties and fastenings.

Porous cover blocks

Having incorrect mix proportions and water
cement ratio.
These are usually fixed to the steel bars at about
one meter centers and if they are porous they
become the starting source of decay as they
permit the ingress of moisture.

EFFECTS OF CRACKING ON LIFE OR

DURABILIY OF STRUCTURE
Understanding of cracks in concrete will help us to
avpoid failures of concrete on one hand, avoidable
worries and expenditure on other hand .

Reduce loading capacity of structure

Progressive failure
Loss of appearance
Leakages

Apprehension of failure in mind

Controlling cracks
Better concrete mix design
Friendly environment condition at the time of
concreting at site.
Have dense concrete
Use low heat of pozzolanic cement in mass
concreting.

IDENTIFICATION OF DISTRESSED
LOCATIONS ON STRUCTURES
PRELIMINARY INSPECTION
Carry out a preliminary inspection possibly with some testing in
order to get characterize the nature of problem and to plan the
detailed investigations.
Detailed inspection
Checking the strength of concrete
Chemical analysis on concrete
Corrosion test
Conclusion from investigation
In majority of cases ,the cause of damage can be tracked to the
following singly or in combination:
Low cover to steel
Permeable concrete

REPAIR
Repair refers to modification of structure,
damaged in its appearance or serviceability, to
restore, partly or wholly, the pre-existing
characteristics of serviceability, load-bearing
capacity and if necessary, to improve its
durability.
Repair techniques are used to restore the
structural integrity and shape of a concrete
element and generally include removal of
damaged concrete and replacement of new
concrete.

GENERAL REPAIR PROCEDURE

Surface preparation and protection of
reinforcement
Chipping of defective or deteriorated concrete should
be done till all defective concrete is removed.
During repairs structural load carrying members must
be supported.
Remove all rust from steel bars if it is reinforced
member. In concrete rust is like cancer.
The old concrete of masonry surface should be made
rough to give proper mechanical bond.
Wash and clean the entire surface before taking up
repairs
Bonding material / epoxy should be applied between old
and new concrete.
Spraying of water at regular intervals on inclined or

MATERIALS AND METHODS FOR CRACK

REPAIR
Repair materials can be of following types:
Cement bound
Polymer cement bound
Resin hardener bound(epoxy)
Following materials are generally used in crack
repair:
1. Low viscosity epoxy materials
2. Epoxy modified mortar
3. Polyurethane based coating over epoxy mortar
4. Elastomeric concrete
5. Fiber reinforced concrete

Low viscosity epoxy material

Designed for grouting gaps of low width of about 0.5 to
10mm. Epoxy compound like RESICRETE of SWC or
CONVEXTRA EP10 of FORSROC which is normally supplied
as two component product consisting of base and
hardener that is filler and polymer can be used.
Epoxy modified mortar
Epoxy mortar is a common material used for repair of
concrete surfaces in general. It cannot be used in open
surfaces as it is non UV resistant
Polyurethane based coating over epoxy mortar
As epoxy mortars are non UV resistors ,but still have good
strength so they can be used with a coating of this
material.
Elastomeric concrete
An epoxy material used in repairs not only in slabs and

Fiber reinforced concrete

It is a concrete with small sized aggregates, cement sand
mortar and some type of hair .Various types of hair can
be:

Steel fibers
Carbon fibers
Glass fibers
Polypropylene fibers

Generally polypropylene fiber is used.

Ferro cement
Term Ferro cement is applied to a mixture of Portland
cement and sand reinforced with layers of woven or
expanded steel mesh and closely spaced small diameter
steel rods. Construction made with this is more resistant
to earthquakes.

SOME SPECIFIC REPAIR TECHNIQUE FOR

CONCRETE SURFACE
1. Cracking of concrete surface up to certain depth:
a) Cracks up to depth of 0 to 20 mm category A
b) Cracks between depth of 20 to 50-category B
c) Cracks to depth of more than 50mm-category C
1. Weather effects on concrete or rusting of reinforcement
category D
2. Blowholes and streak marks on concrete-category E
3. Honeycombing in concrete category F
4. Holes in concrete or potholes or holes in road category G
Repair methods-anyone of the above materials can be used
with following described methods
Application by hand
Casting into formwork fixed into existing concrete surface

ASSESMENT OF QUALITY OF STRUCTURE

SOON AFTER ITS CONSTRUCTION
As the repair of structural element of building is over,
it is desirable hat soundness of structure is assed with
the help of non-destructive testing technique. Some
NDTs which are available are:

Pulse velocity measurement method (PVM)

Cover meter
Rebound hammer or similar methods
Core cutting and testing of critical spots

Through these methods the strength of concrete,

depth of cover, cracks, voids, if any can be found.

REQUIREMENT FOR TRAINING FOR CONCRETE

REPAIR AND CONCRETE WORKERS
To achieve good quality of work it is necessary to have
skilled workers at site.
Like masons know the importance of water, right
placement of reinforcement, mixing ingredients etc.
Training should look that construction workers are
trained for correct process and quality procedure with
practical sessions and hands on work.

THANK YOU