CONCRETE DAMAGES, DEFECTS

AND PREVENTION
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Concrete structure damages, defects and its prevention

Concrete structures get damaged or defective during its lifetime.
The causes for such damages or defects can be many such as poor
quality control during construction, overloads on structure, natural
calamities, environmental factors etc. But it is essential to restore
the strength of concrete structures by assessing and repairing of
damages and defects.

For the successful repair and protection of concrete structure,

technical assistance is needed from the experts. These include
professional assessment of the damage, the design for use of
suitable method of repair and then using the recommended
methods to repair the damage or defects of concrete structures with
due supervision and execution.

For the assessment of concrete structures for damages, it is

required to know under which different circumstances the concrete
structures may get damaged. Following are the given circumstance:

Concrete structure damage and defects:

The concrete structures get damaged or deteriorate due to
mechanical, physical or chemical attack.

The Mechanical damages results in a concrete structure due to impact

load on structure such as accidents, vibrations in the structure, due
to which concrete get damaged and spall. Vibrations can be due to
many reasons, such as moving heavy vehicles in surrounding, or
explosion nearby, moving of heavy equipment inside structure or
due to effects of wind loads and earthquake loads. With the
vibrations in structure, concrete loose bonds with steel
reinforcement and spalling of concrete may happen from structure.
Physical damage in concrete structure may occur due to abrasion, erosion
of concrete, efflorescence or leaching, and even due to thermal
effects. Erosion of concrete, leaching or efflorescence is the result of
continuous contact of concrete structure with still or moving water.
This results in damage of concrete structure resulting in corrosion of
steel reinforcement which further decreases the strength and
durability of concrete. The thermal effect is the result of continuous
drying and wetting of concrete or where the temperature is high. In
this case, the steel in concrete structure expands and contracts and
bond is lost with concrete. This also results in crack in concrete
members and thus spalling of concrete may happen.
The chemical attack on concrete structure is mostly based on
environmental condition or surroundings where the concrete
structure is constructed. The environmental condition such as
concrete structure nearby coastal areas gets damaged earlier than
other regions due to rapid corrosion of steel reinforcement. The
concrete structures nearby any chemical factory also gets damaged
due to chemical actions.
Other type of chemical damages can be due to bacterial attack,
direct chemical exposure or alkali aggregate reactions. Alkali
aggregate reaction happens due to presence of alkali’s in sand.

Concrete damage due to steel reinforcement corrosion

Reinforcement steel in concrete structures gets corroded due to
chemical attack as mentioned above or due to poor construction
practices during execution which results in less durable structure.
To prevent the corrosion in steel reinforcement, it is essential to
provide required cover as per the relevant codes based on
environmental conditions. Strictly following codal provisions in
design and construction of concrete structure for the given region
prevents such kinds of damages and defects. The selection of
suitable painting, use of epoxy coated steel reinforcements and
types of cement also helps in preventing steel reinforcement
corrosion.
Damage by Carbonation: The carbon dioxide ingress causes
carbonation of the cement matrix.
Another damage is the results of metals of different electro
potential that are connected to each other in the concrete and
corrosion would occur. Such damage is commonly calling
“Stray/Electrical current” damage.
The Contamination by corrosives like Chlorides is carried into the
concrete in solution in water. At the steel surface, even in alkaline
concrete, they attach and break down the passivating layer and
then accelerate the steel corrosion process.