2010

Prepared by:
Mohammed Al Telbani 12010/0599
Instructor:
Dr. Mohammed Arafa
Islamic University Gaza
Facultyof Engineering
Civil EngineeringDepartment
DesignandRehabilitationof Structures
Designof Special ConcreteStructuresENGC 6330
ACI CODE & EUROCODEAPPROACHES FOR FLEXURAL
CRACKS CONTROL IN WATER TANKS
1. Introduction.
2. Factors Affecting the Width of Flexural Cracks.
3. Distribution of Flexural Reinforcement in One-way Slabs
and Walls.
ACI 350-01 Requirements.
ACI 350-06 Requirements.
ACI 224-01 Requirements.
Euro Code Requirements.
4. Distribution of Flexural Reinforcement in Two-way Slabs
and Plates
ACI 224-01 Requirements
Whendesigningareinforcedconcretestructure, threelimit
statesmust beconsidered:
UltimateLimit State.
ServiceabilityLimit State.
Special Limit State.
Excessive Crack Width
Cracks in concrete structures can indicate major structural
problems and detract from the appearance of monolithic
construction. Therearemanyspecificcausesof cracking.
Cracking can be the result of one or a combination of
factors. Someexamplesinclude:
Drying Shrinkage. This occurs as water used in the mix design
evaporates.
Thermal Contraction/Expansion. Duetotemperaturechanges.
Subgrade Settlement (or Expansion). Resulting from poor soil
conditionsor changesinsoil moisturecontent.
Differential Bearing Capacity. Harder soils under part of the
foundationcancausestressesasthebuildingsettlesin.
Applied Stresses. Forces such as building load, earth load, or
hydrostaticpressurewhichisthecauseof flexural cracks.
2. FACTORS AFFECTING THE WIDTH OF FLEXURAL CRACKS
The crack width of a flexural crack depends on the following
quantities:
1. Thereinforcingsteel stressisthemost important variable;
2. Thethicknessof theconcretecover isanimportant variablebut
not theonlygeometricconsideration;
3. Theareaof concretesurroundingeachreinforcingbar isalsoan
important geometricvariable;
4. The bar diameter is not a major variable. Several bars at
moderate spacing are much more effective in controlling
crackingthanoneor twolarger barsof equivalent area.
3. DISTRIBUTION OF FLEXURAL REINFORCEMENT IN
ONE-WAY SLABS AND WALLS
This section prescribes rules for distribution of flexural reinforcement to
control flexural crackinginone-wayslabs, andone-waywalls(reinforced
to resist flexural stresses in only onedirection) that arenot compression
controlledsections.
We will explain the following ACI codes approaches for control of
flexural cracks:
1. ACI 350-01, Code Requirements for Environmental Engineering
ConcreteStructuresandCommentary.
2. ACI 350-06, Code Requirements for Environmental Engineering
ConcreteStructuresandCommentary.
3. ACI 224R-01, Control of CrackinginConcreteStructures.
Cross sections of maximumpositive and negative moment shall be so
proportionedthat thequantityz givenby:
3
A d f z
c s
=
ACI 350R-01 (10-5)
doesnot exceed:
1. 115 kip/in normal environmental exposure.
2. 95 kip/in severeenvironmental exposure.
where,
z =quantitylimitingdistributionof flexural reinforcement, kip/in.
f
s
=Calculatedflexural stressinreinforcement at serviceload, (ksi).
f
s
shall becomputedas theservicemoment dividedby theproduct
of steel area and internal moment arm. In place of such
computations, it is permitted to take f
s
as 45% of specified yield
strengthf
y
.
d
c
=distance between the extreme tension fiber to the centroid of
thecloset bar, in.
A =effectivetensionareaof concrete, whichistheareaof concrete
symmetric with reinforcing steel divided by number of bars, in
2
.
SeeFigure(1).
Figure (1): Stress Diagram and Effective tension area of concrete.
For liquidretention:
Normal environmental exposure isdefinedas exposure
toliquidswithapH greater than5, or exposuretosulfate
solutionsof 1000ppmor less.
Severe environmental exposures are conditions in
whichthelimitsdefiningnormal environmental exposure
areexceeded.
Thecalculatedstressf
s
inreinforcement closest toasurfaceintensionat
serviceloads shall not exceedthat givenby Eq. ACI 350-06(10-4) and
(10-5) andshall not exceedamaximumof 36,000psi:
In normal environmental exposure areas:
psi 20,000
2
2 4
320
2
2
max ,

|
.
|

\
|
+ +
=
b
s
d
s
f

ACI 350-06 (10-4)

ACI 350-06 REQUIREMENTS
psi 17,000
2
2 4
260
2
2
max ,

|
.
|

\
|
+ +
=
b
s
d
s
f

In Severe environmental exposure areas:

ACI 350-06 (10-5)
ACI 350-06 REQUIREMENTS
Important Note
Thenumerical limitations of z (ACI 350-01) and f
s,max
(ACI 350-06)
for normal environmental exposure and severe environmental
exposurerespectively correspondto limitingcrack widths of 0.010in
(0.254mm) and0.009in(0.2286mm).
The following approach (ACI 224-01) gives a value of crack width
which will be compared with a reasonable crack width values. See
table(1).
EquationACI 350-01(10-5) iswritteninaformemphasizingreinforcing
details rather than crack width. It is based on the (Gergely-Lutz)
expression:
3
3
10 076 . 0

= A d f w
c s

where:
w=most probablemaximumcrackwidth, in.
=ratio of distance between neutral axis and extreme tension
fiber todistancebetweenneutral axisandthecentroidof themain
reinforcingsteel.
ACI 224-01 REQUIREMENTS
c d
c h

=
Nominal limit valueof thecrack widthspecifiedfor caseswithexpected
functional consequencesof crackingarestipulatedinTable(1).
w <w
lim
Exposure Condition
Crack Width
in. mm
Dry or protective membrane 0.016 0.41
Humidity, moisture air, soil 0.012 0.30
Deicing chemicals 0.007 0.18
Seawater and sweater spray, wetting and drying 0.006 0.15
Water-retaining structures 0.004 0.10
Table (1): Guide to reasonable
*
crack widths, reinforced concrete under service loads.
ACI 224-01 REQUIREMENTS
The code stipulates that the design crack width be evaluated fromthe
followingexpression:
Eurocode Requirements
sm rm k
s w =
where,
=designcrackwidth;
=averagestabilizedcrackspacing;
=mean strain under relevant combination of loads and allowing for
theeffect suchastensionstiffeningor shrinkage; and
=coefficientrelatingtheaveragecrackwidthtothedesignvalue
=1.7for load-inducedcrackingandfor restraint crackinginsections
withminimumdimensioninexcessof 800mm(32in.).
k
w
rm
s
sm

Thestrain inthesectionisobtainedfromthefollowingexpression:
Eurocode Requirements
where,
=stress in the tension reinforcement computed on the basis of a
crackedsection, MPa;
=stress in the tension reinforcement computed on the basis of a
cracked section under loading conditions that causethefirst crack,
MPa;
=coefficientaccountingfor bar bondcharacteristics
=1.0for deformedbarsand0.5for plainbars;
=coefficientaccountingfor loadduration
=1.0 for singleshort-termloading and 0.5 for sustained or cyclic
loading; and
=Modulusof elasticityof thereinforcement, MPa.
sm

] ) / ( 1 [ /
2
2 1 s sr s s sm
E =
s

sr

s
E
Theaveragestabilized mean crack spacing is evaluated fromthe
followingexpression:
Eurocode Requirements
where,
d
b
=bar diameter, mm;
=effective reinforcement ratio =A
s
/ A
ct
; the effective concrete
area in tension A
ct
is generally the concrete area surrounding the
tensionreinforcement of depthequal to 2.5times thedistancefrom
the tensile face of the concrete section to the centroid of the
reinforcement. For slabs where thedepth of the tension zone may
besmall, theheight of theeffectiveareashouldnot betakengreater
than[(c d
b
)/ 3], wherec=clear cover tothereinforcement, mm;
k
1
=0.8for deformedbarsand1.6for plainbars; and
k
2
=0.5for bendingand1.0for puretension.
rm
s
mm , / 25 . 0 50
2 1 t b rm
d k k s + =
t

4. DISTRIBUTION OF FLEXURAL REINFORCEMENT IN TWO-

WAY SLABS AND PLATES
ACI 224-01 REQUIREMENTS
Analysisof dataoncrackingintwo-wayslabsandplates(NawyandBlair
1971) has provided the following equation for predicting the maximum
crackwidth:
I f k w
s
=
where the terms inside the radical are collectively termed the grid index:
(

= =

8
1
2 1
1
2 1
b
c
t
b
d
d s s s d
I
where,
k =fracture coefficient with a value k =2.8 x 10
-5
for uniformly
loaded restrained two-way action square slabs and plates. For
concentratedloadsor reactionsor whentheratioof short tolongspan
is less than 0.75 but larger than 0.5, a value of k =2.1 x 10
-5
is
applicable. For spanaspect ratioslessthan0.5, k=1.6x10
-5
;
=1.25 (chosen to simplify calculations, although it varies between
1.20and1.35);
f
s
=actual average service-load stress level or 40% of the specified
yieldstrengthf
y
, ksi;
4. DISTRIBUTION OF FLEXURAL REINFORCEMENT IN TWO-
WAY SLABS AND PLATES
ACI 224-01 REQUIREMENTS
where,
d
b1
=diameter of the reinforcement in Direction 1 closest to the
concreteouter fibers, in.;
s
1
=spacingof thereinforcementinDirection1, in.;
s
2
=spacingof thereinforcementinperpendicular Direction2, in.;

t1
=activesteel ratio, that is, theareaof steel A
s
per ft width/ [12d
b1
+
2c
1
], wherec
1
is clear concretecover measured fromthetensileface
of concrete to thenearest edge of thereinforcing bar in Direction 1;
and
w=crackwidthat faceof concretecausedbyflexure, in.
4. DISTRIBUTION OF FLEXURAL REINFORCEMENT IN TWO-
WAY SLABS AND PLATES
ACI 224-01 REQUIREMENTS
Example
Wehaveawater tankwith:
Wall thickness=50.0cm=19.685in
ServiceMoment M
s
=9.0ton.m=781.165kip.in
Take100cmof thewall =39.37in
Concretecover =5.0cm=1.968in
ConcreteCompressiveStress
Reinf. YieldStress
ksi 267 . 4 / 300
2 '
= = cm kg f
c
ksi 738 . 59 / 4200
2
= = cm kg f
y
Example
1- Compute the area of flexural reinforcement:
d=50.0 5.0 1.4/2 =44.3 cm
min
2
5
0012 . 0
) 300 ( ) 3 . 44 ( 100
) 0 . 9 ( ) 10 ( 61 . 2
1 1
4200
) 300 ( 85 . 0
< =
(
(

=
m cm A
s
/ 62 . 14 3 . 44 100 0033 . 0
2
= =
Use 1 14 @ 10 cm
Example
2- Check for crack width:
3
3
10 076 . 0

= A d f w
c s

c d
c h

=
d=h cover 0.5 d
b
=19.685 1.968 0.5(0.551)=17.44 in
1

a
c =
b f
f A
a
c
y s
'
85 . 0
=
836 . 0
70
) 280 300 ( 05 . 0
85 . 0
70
) 280 ( 05 . 0
85 . 0
'
1
=

=
c
f

Number of bars =100/10 =10 bars

2 2
in 384 . 2 ) 2 / 551 . 0 ( 10 = =
s
A
Example
in 997 . 0
37 . 39 267 . 4 85 . 0
738 . 59 384 . 2
=


= a
in 193 . 1
836 . 0
997 . 0
= = c
138 . 1
193 . 1 440 . 17
193 . 1 685 . 19
=

=
2
kip/in 34 . 19
2
997 . 0
44 . 17 384 . 2
165 . 781
2
=
|
.
|

\
|

=
|
.
|

\
|

=
a
d A
M
f
s
s
Example
in 244 . 2 ) 2 / 551 . 0 ( 968 . 1 = + =
c
d
2
in 665 . 17 937 . 3 244 . 2 2 2 = = = s d A
c c
in 0057 . 0 10 665 . 17 244 . 2 34 . 19 138 . 1 076 . 0
3
3
= =

w
mm 145 . 0 4 . 25 0057 . 0 = = w
> 0.10 mm NOT O.K.
3- Repeat the previous steps using 1 14 @ 7.5 cm
mm 0999 . 0 = w O.K.
REFERENCES
1. ACI Committee 224 (ACI 224R-01), "Control of Cracking in
Concrete Structures", American Concrete Institute, Detroit,
Michigan.
2. ACI Committee 350 (ACI 350-01), "Code Requirements for
Environmental Engineering Concrete Structures and Commentary",
AmericanConcreteInstitute, Detroit, Michigan.
3. ACI Committee 350 (ACI 350-06), "Code Requirements for
Environmental Engineering Concrete Structures and Commentary",
AmericanConcreteInstitute, Detroit, Michigan.
4. "Cracking in ConcreteWalls", ConcreteFoundations Association of
NorthAmerica.