‫ﺑﺴﻢ ﷲ اﻟﺮﺣﻤﻦ اﻟﺮﺣﯿﻢ‬

REINFORCED CONCRETE - II
(An Elective Course)

LECTURE #23
Serviceability: Cracks

By

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Contents
2

 Objectives of the Present Lecture

 Types of cracks
 Control of flexural cracks
 Gergely-Lutz Equaiton
 Problem
 Note on Bundled bars
 Note on doubly reinforced beams
 SBC 304 provisions concerning cracks
 Problem
 Effect of crack width in corrosion of reinforcing steel
 SBC 304 provisions for controlling the amount of flexural
cracking

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Objectives of the Present Lecture
3

 To provide an overview of different types of cracks.

 To describe how to compute and control cracks in
RC members.

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Types of Cracks
4

 Flexural cracks
 Web shear cracks
 Flexural-shear cracks
 Torsion cracks
 Bond cracks
 Other cracks

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Flexural Cracks
5

 Flexural cracks are vertical cracks that extend from

the tension sides of beams up to the region of their
neutral axis. These cracks may be wider up in the
middle of the beam than at the bottom.

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Web-Shear Cracks
6

 Inclined cracks due to shear can develop in the webs

of reinforced concrete beams. Occasionally, inclined
cracks will develop independently in a beam, even
though no flexural cracks are in that locality. These
cracks are called web-shear cracks.

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Flexural-Shear Cracks
7

 The usual type of inclined shear cracks are the

flexure-shear cracks. They commonly develop in
both prestressed and non-prestressed beams.

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Torsion Cracks
8
 Torsion cracks are quite similar to shear cracks except they are
spiral around the beam. Should a plain concrete member be
subjected to pure torsion, it will crack and fail along 450 spiral
lines due to the diagonal tension corresponding to the torsional
stresses.
 Although torsion stresses are very similar to shear stresses, they
will occur on all faces of a member. As a result, they add to the
shear stresses on one side and subtract from them on the other.

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Bond Cracks
9

 Sometimes bond stresses between the concrete and

the reinforcing lead to a splitting along the bars.

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Other types of Cracks
10

 Members that are loaded in axial tension will have

transverse cracks through their entire cross sections.
 Cracks can also occur in concrete members due to
shrinkage, temperature change, settlements, and so
on.
 Note: It is wise to include a few reinforcing bars in
certain places in some structures, even though there
seems to be no theoretical need for them. Certain
spots in some structures (such as in abutments,
retaining walls, building walls near openings, etc.)
may develop cracks.

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Occurence of Flexural Cracks
11

 Cracks are going to occur in reinforced concrete

structures because of concrete’s low tensile strength.
 For members with low steel stresses at service loads, the
cracks may be very small and in fact may not be visible
except upon careful examination. Such cracks called
microcracks are generally initiated by bending stresses.
 When steel stresses are high at service load, particularly
where high-strength steels are used, visible cracks will
occur. These cracks should be limited to certain
maximum sizes so that the appearance of the structure is
not spoiled and so that corrosion of the reinforcing does
not result.

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Contd.
12

 The use of high-strength bars and the strength

method of design have made crack control a very
important item indeed.
 Because the yield stresses of reinforcing bars in
general use have increased from 280 MPa (40 ksi) to
420 MPa (60 ksi) and above, it has been rather
natural for designers to specify approximately the
same size bars as they are accustomed to using, but
fewer of them.
 The result has been more severe cracking of
members.

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Control of Flexural Cracks
13

 Although cracks cannot be eliminated, they can be

limited to acceptable sizes by spreading out or
distributing the reinforcement.
 In other words, smaller cracks will result if several
small bars are used with moderate spacings rather
than a few large one with large spacings.
 Such a practice will usually result in satisfactory
crack control even for grades 420 and higher grade
bars. An excellent rule of thumb to use as regards
cracking is “don’t use a bar spacing larger than about
225 mm (9 in).”

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Control of Flexural Cracks (Contd.)
14

 The maximum crack widths that are considered to be

acceptable vary from approximately 0.1 to 0.4 mm
(0.004 to 0.016 in), depending on the location of the
member in question, the type of structure, the
surface texture of the concrete, illumination, and
other factors.
 Crack width must be limited to smaller values if a
member is in an environment involving de-icing
chemicals and salt water.

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Permissible Crack Width
(ACI Committee 224)
15

Member Subjected To Permissible Crack

Width (mm)

Dry air 0.41

Moist air, soil 0.30
De-icing chemicals 0.18
Seawater and seawater spray 0.15
Use in water retaining 0.10
structures

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

Gergely-Lutz Equation

w  0.0113 h f s 3 d c A
w  the estimated cracking width in thousands of mms
 h  ratio of the distance to the neutral axis from the extreme tension
concrete fiber to the distance from the neutral axis to the centroid
of the tensile steel (values to be determined by the Working - stress method)
f s  steel stress, in MPa at service loads (designer is permitted to use 0.6 f y
for normal structures)
d c  the cover of the outermost bar measured from the extreme tension fiber to the
center of the closest bar or wire. (For bundled bars d c is measured to the c.g.
of the bundles)
A  the effective tension area of concrete around the main reinforcing (having the
same centroid as the reinforcing) divided by the number of bars.
CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui 16 May 27, 2017
 Gergely-Lutz Equation (Contd.)
17

w  0.0113 h f s 3 d c A
Note :
 h  1.20 for beams
 1.35 for thin one - way slabs.
If more and smaller bars are used to provide the necessary area, the value of
A will be smaller, as will the estimated crack widths.

Should all the bars in a particular group not be the same size, their number (for
use in the equation) should be considered to equal the total reinforcing stee area
actually provided in the group divided by the area of the largest bar size used.

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Problem-1
Assuming  h  1.20 and f y  420 MPa
(a) Calculate the estimated width of flexural cracks that will occur in the beam of
Figure shown below.
(b) If the beam is exposed to moist air, for which permissible crack width is 0.30 mm, is this
width satisfactory?
(c) Should the cracks be too wide, revise the design of the reinforcing and recompute
the crack width.

600
675

3   36
75
400
All dimensions in mm

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui 18 May 27, 2017

 Solution (a)
(a) Substituti ng into the Gergely - Lutz Equation :
 h  1.20;
f s  0.6 f y  0.6  420  252 MPa ;
d c  75 mm; 600 A
150  400 
675
3
(75  75)  400 3   36
A  20000 mm 2
3 75
dc 75
we have
400
w  0.0113 h f s 3 d c A
 w  0.0113  1.20  252  (75  20000)1 / 3
 w  391.2 (thousands of mms)
391.2
w  0.39 mm
1000
CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui 19 May 27, 2017
 Solution (b) and (c)
20

(b) For moist air Permissible crack width  0.30 mm.

 w  0.39 mm  0.30 (for moist air) No Good

(c) Revision of the Reinforcing to satisfy the crack size limit

First Trial
Replace 3 -  36 (3054 mm 2 ) by 5 -  28 (3080 mm 2 )
(75  75)  400
A  12000 mm 2
5
we have, w  0.0113 h f s 3 d c A  0.0113  1.20  252  (75  12000)1/ 3
 w  329.9 (thousands of mms)
329.9
w  0.33 mm  0.30 (for moist air) No Good
1000
CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017
 Solution (c) Contd.
21

Second Trial
Replace 3 -  36 (3054 mm 2 ) by 7 -  25 (3437 mm 2 )
(75  75)  400
A  8571.4 mm 2
7
we have, w  0.0113 h f s 3 d c A  0.0113  1.20  252  (75  8571.4)1/ 3
 w  294.9 (thousands of mms)
294.9
w  0.29 mm  0.30 (for moist air) OK
1000
Use 7 -  25 bars

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Note on Bundled Bars
22

 The bond between the concrete and the reinforcing steel

decidedly affects the sizes and spacing of the cracks in
concrete.
 When bundled bars are used, there is appreciably less
contact between the concrete and the steel as compared
to the cases where the bars are placed separately from
each other.
 When bundled bars are present, some designers use a
very conservative procedure in computing the value of A.
For this calculation they assume each bundle is one bar,
that bar having an area equal to the total area of the bars
in that bundle.

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Note on Doubly reinforced Beams
23

 Particular attention needs to be given to crack

control for doubly reinforced beams where it is
common to use small numbers of large-diameter
tensile bars.
 Calculation of crack widths for such beams may
result in rather large values, thus in effect requiring
the use of a large number of rather closely spaced
smaller bars.

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 SBC 304 Provisions Concerning Cracks
24

 The center-to-center spacing of the reinforcing closest to a

tension surface should not be greater than the value
computed with the following expression:
95000  252 
s  2.5cc  300  (" " refers " but not greater than" )
fs  fs 
In this expression f s is the computed tensile stress at working load.
It may be calculated by dividing the unfactored bending moment by
My
the beam' s internal moment arm (i.e. f s  n ) or it may simply
I
2 2
be taken equal to f y (i.e. f s  f y ).
3 3
Note: Above SBC 304 provision is not exactly same as ACI 318.

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Problem-2
25

A beam has 420 MPa reinforcement and 50 mm clear

bottom cover. What is the maximum spacing of
reinforcing according to SBC Eq. 10-4.
Solution
2 2
f s  f y   420  280 MPa
3 3
95000  252 
s  2.5cc  300 
fs  fs 
95000  252 
s  2.5  50  300   
280  280 
 214.3 mm  270 mm
 Use s  214.3 mm (say use s  200 mm)
CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017
 Effect of Crack Widths on Corrosion of
Reinforcing Steel
26

 The effect of cracks and their widths on the corrosion of

reinforcing is not clearly understood. There does not
seem to be direct relationship between crack widths and
corrosion, at least at the reinforcing stresses occurring
when members are subjected to service loads.
 Thus the 2005 ACI Code does not distinguish between
interior and exterior exposure as did the 1995 Code.
Present research seems to indicate that the total
corrosion occurring in reinforcing is independent of
crack widths.
 It is true however, that the time required for corrosion to
begin in reinforcing is inversely related to the widths of
cracks.

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 SBC 304 Provisions for controlling the
amount of Flexural cracking……..

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui 27 May 27, 2017

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui 28 May 27, 2017
CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui 29 May 27, 2017
 Further Reading
30

Read more about the cracks in RC members from :

1. Reinforced concrete, Mechanics and Design by

James K. Wight and James G. Macgregor, Fifth
Edition, Pearson Prentice Hall, USA.
2. Design of Reinforced Concrete by Jack C.
McCormac and Russell H. Brown, Eighth Edition,
John Wiley & Sons.

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Thank You
31

CE 470 (RC - II) : Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017