CRACKS

IN
BUILDING
(Causes and Prevention)

--Jatin George
1PI12CV049

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TOPIC

Pg no
Introduction
3
Thermal Movement
4
Elastic Deformation
6
Foundation movement and settlement of soil
8
Due to Chemical Reaction
10
Sulphate Attack
10
Carbonation
11
Corrosion of reinforcement in concrete and
11
brickwork
Alkali aggregate reaction
12
Creep
12
Growth of Vegetation
13
14
Cracks due to soil characteristics

TABLE OF CONTENT

INTRODUCTION
Occurrence of various crack patterns in the building during construction, after
completion when it is subjected to super imposed load or during the service life, is a
common phenomenon. A building component develops cracks whenever the stress in
the components exceeds its strength. Stress in the building component could be caused
by externally applied forces, such as dead, live, wind or seismic loads, foundation
settlement etc. or it could be induced internally due to thermal movements, moisture
changes, elastic deformation, chemical action etc.
Cracks in buildings could be broadly classified as structural and non-structural cracks.
Structural Cracks : These occur due to incorrect design, faulty construction or
overloading and these may endanger the safety of a building. e.g. Extensive cracking of
an RCC beam.
Non structural Cracks: These are mostly due to internally induced stresses in buildings
materials and do not endanger safety of a building but may look unsightly, or may create
an impression of faulty work or may give a feeling of instability. In some situations due to
penetration of moisture through them non structural cracks may spoil the internal
finishes thus adding to the cost of maintenance, or corrode the reinforcement, thereby
adversely affecting the stability of the Structure in long run. e.g. Vertical crack in a long
compound wall due to shrinkage or thermal movement.
Cracks may appreciably vary in width from very thin hair crack barely visible to naked
eye to gaping crack. Depending upon the crack width cracks are classified as :
(a) Thin Crack - less than 1 mm in width,
(b) Medium Crack - 1 to 2 mm in width,
(c) Wide Crack - more than 2 mm in width.
(d) Crazing - Occurrence of closely spaced fine cracks at the surface of a material is
called crazing.
Cracks may of uniform width throughout or may be narrow at one end
gradually widening at the other. Crack may be straight, toothed, stepped,
map pattern or of random type and may be vertical, horizontal or diagonal.
Cracks may be only at surface or may extend to more than one layer of
material. Cracks due to different causes have varying characteristics and by
the careful observations of these characteristics, one can diagnose the cause
of cracking for adopting the appropriate remedial measures.

Thermal Movement

The most potent causes of cracking in buildings.

All materials more or less expand on heating and contract on

cooling.

The extent of thermal movement depends upon :

Ambient temperature variation
Co-efficient of thermal expansion Expansion of cement
mortar & concrete is almost twice of the bricks and brick work.
Movement in brickwork in vertical direction is 50% more than
in horizontal direction.
Dimensions of components

The coefficient of thermal expansion of brickwork in the vertical

direction is fifty percent greater than that in the horizontal direction,
because there is no restraint to movement in the vertical direction

The coefficient of thermal expansion of brickwork in the vertical

direction is fifty percent greater than that in the horizontal direction,
because there is no restraint to movement in the vertical direction

Remedial Measures
Thermal movement cracks can be avoided by
introducing expansion joints, control joints and slip
joints.
In structures having rigid frames or shell roofs
where provision of movement joints is not
structurally feasible, thermal stresses have to be
taken into account in the structural design itself to
enable the structure to withstand thermal stresses
without developing any undesirable cracks.

Elastic Deformation
Structural components of a building undergo elastic deformation
due to dead and the super imposed live loads, in accordance with
hook law. The amount of deformation depends upon elastic
modulus, magnitude of loading and the dimension of the
component.
This elastic deformation under
cracking in the building as under :

certain

circumstances

causes

When walls are unevenly loaded with wide variations in stress in

different parts, excessive shear stress is developed which causes
cracking in walls.

When a beam or slab of large span undergoes excessive deflection

and there is not much vertical load above the supports (as in the

case of roof slab), ends of beam /slab curl up causing cracks in

supporting masonry.

When two materials, having widely different elastic properties, are

built side by side, under the effect of load, shear stresses are set up
at the interface of the two materials, resulting in cracks at the
junction. Such a situation is commonly encountered in the
construction of RCC framed structure and brick masonry panel
(external) and partition (internal) walls.

Foundation movement and settlement

of soil

Shear cracks in buildings occurs when there is large

differential settlement of foundation due to one of the
following cause.
(a) Unequal bearing pressure under different parts of the
structure.
(b) Bearing pressure being in excess of safe bearing
strength of the soil.
(c) Low factor of safety in the design of foundations.
(d) Local variations in the nature of supporting soil, which
remained undetected and could not be taken care of in the
foundation design at the time of construction.
(e) Foundation resting in active zone on expensive soil.

Due to Chemical Reaction

Certain chemical reactions in building materials result in
appreciable increase in volume of materials, due to which
internal stresses are setup which may result in outward
thrust and formation of cracks. The common instances of
chemical reaction are:

Sulphate Attack
Soluble sulphates which are sometimes present in soil ,
groundwater or clay bricks reacts with tri calcium
aluminate content of cement and hydraulic lime in the
presence of moisture and form products which occupies
much larger volume than the original constituents . This
expansive reaction causes weakening of masonary ,
concrete and plaster and formation of cracks. For above
reaction it is necessary that soluble sulphate , tri calcium
aluminate and moisture , all three are present. It takes
about two or more years before the effect of this reaction
becomes apparent. The severity of sulphate attack
depends upon :
Amount of soluble sulphates present
Permeability of concrete and mortar
Content of tri calcium aluminate in the cement used for
concrete and mortar
Duration for which the building components remain damp

 The building components which are liable to sulphate

attack are concrete and masonry in foundation and plinth,
and masonry and plaster in super structure.

Carbonation
During hardening of concrete some calcium hydroxide is
liberated in the process of hydration of cement . In course
of time , free hydroxide in concrete reacts with
atmospheric carbon dioxide forming calcium carbonate
resulting in shrinkage cracks , since calcium carbonate
occupies lesser volume than calcium hydroxide . This
phenomenon is known as carbonation .
In good dense concrete carbonation is confined to mainly
to surface layer and depth of carbonation normally does
not exceed 20mm in 50years.

Corrosion of
brickwork

reinforcement

in

concrete and

Normally concrete provides good protection to steel reinforcement

embedded in it . However , when the reinforcements get corroded ,
it increases in volume with setting up internal stress in concrete . In
course of time it first causes cracks in the line with the direction of
reinforcement , later on causing spalling of concrete thus seriously
damaging the structure .
Factors which contribute to corrosion of reinforcement in concrete are
Permeability in concrete
Carbonation

 Presence of moisture
Inadequacy of cover to reinforcement
Presence of soluble sulphates
Alkali aggregate reaction

Alkali aggregate reaction

In ordinary portland cement , sodium oxide and potassium
oxide are present to some extent . These alkalis
chemically react , with certain siliceous mineral
constituents of aggregate and causes expansion ,
cracking and disintegration of concrete.
In rcc members , it also causes corrosion of reinforcement
This takes a number of years for the cracks to develop.

Creep
Normally used building materials such as concrete, brickwork,
mortar, timber etc. when subjected to to sustained load not only
under go instantaneous elastic deformation but also under go a
gradual and slow time dependent deformation know as creep or
plastic strain.
The factors on which the creep in concrete depends on are:
Water and Cement content
Water-Cement Ratio
Temperature and Humidity
Use of Admixture and Pozzolonas.
Age/Strength of Concrete at the time of loading

 Size and Shape of the component.

Water Cement Ratio : Creep increases with the increase
in the water content, cement content, and the watercement ratio.
Temperature and Humidity : Creep increases with the
increase in the humidity of the surroundings and the
age/strength of the material at the time of loading.
Admixtures and Pozzolonas : Use of Pozzolonas and
Admixtures increases the creep. Creep also increases
with the surface to volume ratio of the component.
In Brickwork:
The creep depends upon the stress/strength ratio
therefore the creep in brickwork with weak mortar is
generally higher.
Creep in brickwork I is approximately 20 % 25% that of
concrete. In brickwork it ceases after 4 months while in
concrete it may be continued upto a year or so.
Most of the creep takes place in the first month and there
after its pace slows down.

Effects of Creep
The major effect of creep in concrete is the substantial
increase in the deformation of structural members, which
may be to the extent of 2 to 3 times the initial elastic
deformation.
This deformation sometimes causes cracks in brick
masonry and load bearing structures.

Growth of Vegetation
Roots of a tree generally spread horizontally on all sides
to the extent of the height of the tree above the ground
and when the trees are located in the vicinity of a wall,
they can cause cracks in walls due to expensive action of
roots growing under the foundation.
Sometimes plants begin to grow in fissures of walls. If
these plants are not removed well in advance, they may in
due course of time develop and cause severe cracking of
walls.

Cracks due to soil characteristics:

When the soil under the foundation of a buildiung

happens to be shrinkable clay, cracking in walls and floors
of buildings can occur in the following ways:

 (a): Growing roots of trees cause de-hydration of soil

which may shrink
and cause foundation settlement,
or
(b): In areas where old trees had been cut of to make way
for building consrtuction roots had de-hydrated the soil.
On receiving moisture from sources, such as rain etc. the
soil swells up and causes an upward thrust on
The following precautions should be taken while removing or
growing trees in close vicinity of the building.
1. Do not let trees grow too close to building, compound
walls etc. (within a distace of expected height of trees) if
any sapling of trees start growing in fissures of walls, etc.
remove them at the earliest.
2. If some large trees exist close to the building and these
are not causing any problem as far as possible, do not
disturb these trees if soil under the foundation happens to
be shrinkable.
3. If removal of old trees within a distance of height of the
tree from the building is unavoidable then these should not
be removed all at once in operation, rather removal should
be done in stages.