Retrofitting and Rehabilitation of Civil

Infrastructure Professor. Swati Maitra

Ranbir and Chitra Gupta School of Infrastructure Design and Management
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
Lecture 07
Identification of Distresses

Hello friends, welcome to the NPTEL online certification course. Retrofitting and Rehabilitation
of Civil Infrastructure. Today we will discuss Module B. The topic for Module B is condition
evaluation and testing.

(Refer Slide Time: 0:45)

The concepts that will be covered today are types of evaluation and identification of distresses in
concrete structures. All infrastructures are getting deteriorated due to aging. We have discussed
in the previous module that there are several reasons of deterioration of infrastructure. The
deterioration may be due to faulty design or improper construction practices, there may be some
foundation related issues or there may be several material related distresses.

At the same time, there may be earthquake or fire type of distresses due to which the structure
may get degraded. And that degradation may cause the poor performance of the structure and
also reduces its service life. Because of this deterioration, the structure may even collapse before
its design life. Therefore, it is very important to evaluate the current condition of the
infrastructure.

There are several ways by which the existing infrastructure can be evaluated. The first and
foremost is the visual inspection. For any evaluation, it is important to first inspect the structure
visually and based on the visual inspection, if it is felt necessary, then further investigation may
be carried out. Further investigation may be a series of semi destructive or non-destructive
testing by which we can evaluate the condition of the structure. The evaluation can also be done
based on structural health monitoring.

(Refer Slide Time: 2:50)

For any investigation, the first step is visual inspection. So, it is important to recognize the type
of distresses that has occurred on the structure by first visually observing the structure and its
component. It is important to recognize the type of serviceability defects for example, if there is
any large deflection or buckling of the member, so, that can be recognized. It is important to
identify any signs of material deterioration.

The material deterioration may be due to corrosion effect or due to sulphate effect and that needs
to be identified in the visual inspection. It is very important to identify any signs of structural
distress and deformation on the member. Because structural distress may cause the reduction in
the strength and that may result into the less performance and durability. So, it is important to
identify any structural distress on the member.

Also, it is required to identify any addition, alteration, or misuse that has been done in the past on
the structure which may cause overloading. For example, a building has been designed and
constructed as a three-storey building, but over a period of time, some one or two stories have
been added that may cause overloading on the structure and which may result into deterioration
of the structure or in case of a bridge.

The bridge has been designed and after some time to improve the riding quality, one layer of
wearing coarse has been added and if that wearing coarse also may get deteriorated over time
and then again another layer of wearing coarse to be added to improve the riding quality. So, this
may increase the dead load of the structure and that may cause damage to the overall structure.

(Refer Slide Time: 5:14)

So, in visual inspection, we have to identify several components, the first thing is to get a general
information of the structure. For example, if it is a building then it is how many stories are there,
what is the type of foundation and the columns and beams and other details we need to have
those informations.

In case of a bridge, we need to identify or we need to get the information about what type of
bridge it is, whether it is a concrete bridge or a steel bridge. What is the type of foundation, how
many piers, how many longitudinal girders are there. So, all these general informations we need
to get while carrying out a visual inspection.

From the visual inspection, we need to identify the distresses on the structural system. The
distresses may be in the substructure, as well as in the superstructure. In substructure, we need to
identify whether there is any settlement of the columns or foundation has been taken place, if any
large cracks are there or not. So, that those things we need to identify in the substructure part of
the infrastructure.

In the superstructure part, we need to identify what are the materials if there is any degradation in
the material, if any problem is there in the framing system, any large cracks or deflections occur
on the member or honeycombing or spalling has been occurred. So, these things will tell us that
the structure or the structural member may get distress. So, it is important to identify all those
distresses in the substructure as well as in the superstructure part of the infrastructure.

Then, also it is required to identify the distresses due to dampness and leakage for all types of
infrastructure it is important to drain out the water. Because, if water is not drained out properly,
water may get percolated through the material and that may cause damage to the concrete to the
bricks or to the reinforcement.

The reinforcement may get corroded due to the reactions taking place between water and oxygen
with the steel members. So, that may corrode the reinforcement. So, it is important to identify the
distresses which may be caused due to dampness and leakage. So, the visual inspection will tell
us the general information of the structure and also on the different components of the structure
we need to identify the different types of distress.
And that distress is maybe due to load associated distress or due to construction related distress
or dampness or leakage or material related degradation. So, these things we need to identify from
the visual inspection.

(Refer Slide Time: 8:23)

After carrying out the visual inspection, further investigations need to be carried out and that
investigation may be done by semi destructive and non-destructive testing. The semi destructive
and non-destructive type of evaluation is equipment based. For this purpose, specialized and
sophisticated equipment are needed. And with that, we can evaluate the structure externally. This
type of evaluation is also one time evaluation.

One of the main advantages is that we need not to close the structure for this type of testing. So,
the structure may be still in its use and the testing may carry on. In the semi destructive and non-
destructive type of evaluation. By analyzing the test results, we can evaluate the condition of the
structure. We can estimate the quality of material we can estimate the strength of the material,
extent of corrosion, carbonation et cetera.
(Refer Slide Time: 9:37)

Structural health monitoring is also another type of condition evaluation. It is a sensor-based

evaluation technique. In this technique, a number of sensors are attached or embedded within the
structure. It could be a new structure or it could be an existing structure in case of a new
structure, the sensors may be embedded during the time of construction or if it is an existing
structure, the sensors may be attached or embedded afterwards.

And these sensors are connected to a data logger and the data logger is again connected to the
system where we can get the data. So, due to the loading on the structure, the structural response
is collected through the sensors. And by analyzing those responses, we can evaluate the
condition of the structure.

The responses what are collected generally deflection or it may be vibration, strain, or
acceleration and by analyzing that we can get the real time condition of the structure. So, by
analyzing, the real time responses obtained from the embedded sensors, the current condition of
the structure can be evaluated effectively.
(Refer Slide Time:

While carrying out the visual inspection, it is important to identify the distresses in the concrete
structure. There are several symptoms of distresses, that may occur due to several reasons due to
load associated causes, due to poor construction practices material degradation. But there are
some basic symptoms and because of these we can understand that there may be some
deterioration of the structure.

The basic symptoms are generally cracking, crazing, spalling, disintegration, scaling, dusting,
honeycombing, corrosion and so many others. Cracking is one of the most common type of
distress that occurs in concrete structures. And due to many reasons, the structure may get
cracked.
(Refer Slide Time:

You can see here in this chart; we have shown that the cracks may be of several types or the
reason of crack may be of several types. You can see here the cracks may occur in a concrete
member before it is hardened or after it is hardened. Before it is hardened, when it is in the
plastic stage. In that case also the cracks may appear if not properly cured or not properly
compacted or if the joint cutting is done at a later stage or there may be shrinkage effect or
settlement.

So, all these may cause cracking on the structure and it may be in the plastic stage when the
material is in the plastic stage. So, that type of distresses may also occur. After hardening also
concrete structure may get cracked, it may be due to alkali aggregate reaction, because of the
reactive aggregates or it may be drying shrinkage, freeze thaw type of effect. So, all this may
cause cracks on the hardened surface of the structure.

Thermal effect may also cause cracks due to expansion or contraction or due to curling effect it
may result into cracks on the surface. The effect of several chemicals we have discussed in detail
in the previous module that like sulfate attack or carbonation corrosion. So, all these may also
cause cracks on the concrete members or cracks may also appear due to several load associated
issues like improper design or repeated loading or creep effect or earthquake etcetera.
(Refer Slide Time:

Cracking in concrete may also be differentiated in many ways. It may be differentiated as

structural cracks or non-structural cracks. We may also differentiate it as active crack and
dormant crack or we may also call it an isolated crack and pattern crack. So, let us see how these
types of crack look like.

(Refer Slide Time: 14:29)

Structural cracks result from incorrect design, overloading, foundation settlement, faulty
construction practices, earthquake effect et cetera. So, if there are several load associated
distresses say overloading or repeated loading or if there is faulty construction practice and that
 may result into lesser development of strength that may cause structural cracks on the
These structural cracks maybe horizontal vertical diagonal or in any direction also with making
some angle and may even appear like a staircase. Like a zigzag manner, like a staircase.

You can see in this picture, it may be the cracks appeared on a brick wall, but it may be due to
the foundation settlement, in non-uniform foundation, settlement may result into severe cracks
on the superstructure. The structural cracks may appear on any member of the structure, it may
be on slabs, beams, columns foundation or even at the joint. And these cracks if they appear it
will often extend to the upper floors of the building.

Structural cracks are to be treated very carefully, because these cracks may endanger the safety
of a building and their components. So, if whether it is due to load associated or due to poor
construction practice, the structural cracks are an indication that the structural strength is
inadequate. So, it may endanger the safety of a building and their components.

(Refer Slide Time: 16:16)

Here we are showing some examples of structural cracks. Look at this picture, this is a typical
beam under flexural loading. Due to the loading, flexural cracks appeared from the bottom of the
beam, you can see here a number of flexural cracks appeared in the beam. This is a slab tested in
our laboratory under the loading, the slab undergoes cracking you can see here typical shear
cracks appeared on the beam on the slab.
This is an example of a longitudinal girder. When we visited the site, it is a part of a flyover
which has been recently repaired. And a typical shear crack appeared on the longitudinal girder,
see here two shear cracks appeared on the web of the longitudinal girder.

(Refer Slide Time: 17:25)

We have seen that there are several flexural cracks also on the longitudinal girder. You can see
here in this picture, the very fine flexural cracks here I have marked it. So, these are the flexural
cracks appeared on the longitudinal girder. This is a diagonal crack on the member which is an
incline crack caused by shear stress usually at 45 degrees. So, you can see here that diagonal
cracks and these are flexural cracks on the girder.
(Refer Slide Time:

Structural cracks may also appear due to the effect of temperature. These are the pictures of
concrete pavement you can see here that a typical transverse crack appeared in concrete
pavement due to the effect of changing temperature. Look at this picture, this is a longitudinal
crack appeared in the concrete pavement. This is the direction of the traffic and this is the
longitudinal crack that has been appeared.

The possible reason for this crack is that the joint spacing. The joint spacing is too large and that
is why due to the effect of development of large stresses, these cracks appeared on the pavement.
This is a picture of a corner cracking in the pavement. Corners are also the location where high
stresses developed. So, cracks may appear at the corners and in many cases we have seen that
corner cracks are there on concrete pavement.
(Refer Slide Time:

In addition to structural cracks, there may be several nonstructural cracks. This is a schematic
diagram where several structural as well as non-structural cracks are shown schematically. See
here that these are the shrinkage cracks appeared randomly on the structures. This on the slab,
the shrinkage cracks have appeared. This is shown here schematically, this is the tension bending
cracks appeared at the top cantilever part.

These are the longitudinal cracks, you can see here that these cracks appeared on this column
because of the corrosion of steel reinforcement and these are also shrinkage cracks here. And this
is the cracks due to alkali aggregate reaction, just scattered cracks appeared on one component of
the structure. This is a shear crack a typical shear crack and this is a type of crazing type of
cracks very fine cracks on the structure.

You can see here that this is crazing type of cracks that are there on the structure, these are very
fine cracks that may appear and which are non-structural, but that may cause further damage.
(Refer Slide Time:

We can also differentiate a crack as active crack and dormant crack. Active cracks are those
cracks, which are actually live cracks, which expand and propagate in length, width and depth
over time. So, these cracks are generally formed due to overloading or due to thermal expansion
or due to some weathering effects or so. And these cracks are such that they propagate within the
material to cause further damage.

So, we also call it live cracks and look at this picture, it is an example of an active crack on the
structure. Cracks may also be dormant in nature, usually the cracks which are not propagating
over time, then we call it a dormant crack. So, these cracks are not that harmful, but it may
appear on the structure.

For example, shrinkage cracks, shrinkage cracks appeared if there is no proper curing, there is a
loss of water due to evaporation. So, shrinkage cracks may appear. But these cracks may not be
that harmful, because they may not be active or propagate. So, they may be called as dormant
crack.
(Refer Slide Time:

Cracks may also be differentiated as an isolated crack and pattern crack. An isolated crack, you
can see here it is an isolated crack. This also on a flyover, when we visited, we found that several
cracks were there and these were isolated cracks on the structure. Based on the width of the
crack, you can also differentiate that whether it is a fine crack or medium crack or wide crack.

A fine crack generally is less than one millimeter or medium crack maybe 1 to 2 millimeter and
wide crack maybe more than 2 millimeter. But there is no hard and fast rule that you have to call
it a medium crack when it is 1 to 2 millimeter. But generally, it can differentiate as fine medium
or wide cracks.
(Refer Slide Time:

Pattern crack is also found in concrete structures. And this pattern cracks are appeared on the
structure in the form of a repeated sequence. This is resulting from a decrease in the volume of
the material near the surface or due to an increase in the volume of the material below the surface
or due to the effect of both or it may be due to the effect of several material related degradation.
This type of pattern cracking may appear.

Pattern cracking may have several types, it may be craze cracks, D-cracks, diagonal cracks,
hairline cracks, map cracking, random cracks, etcetera. So, all these cracks form a pattern on the
structure. And based on that pattern, we can also identify that what type of distresses are there on
that structure, which may cause this type of cracking on the surface.

Look at this picture. This is a typical picture of a pattern cracking. See here, the entire concrete
wall is under map cracking due to the action of alkali aggregate reaction. This is the typical
picture of map cracking on a concrete wall.
(Refer Slide Time:

Here we are showing you some of the typical distresses that may appear on the concrete
structures by which we can identify that there are some distresses. Look at this picture, this is a
crazing type of distress, this is a fine random cracks or fissures on the surface of concrete or
cement paste or mortar or plaster. So, these types of fine cracks appeared not very wide, but very
fine cracks appear as craze crack. Craze cracking or crazing we call it.

This is a typical D-cracking in a concrete pavement. This is a series of crack in concrete near the
joints you can see here in concrete pavement there are joints and these joints may get distressed
and because of that there may be cracks near the joints. So, the series of cracks near or roughly
parallel to the joints or edges may cause D-cracking on the pavement.
(Refer Slide Time:

These are plastic shrinkage cracks which are very common in all concrete structure, if it is not
properly cured during the time of its construction. So, cracks may appear, that occurs on the
surface of a fresh concrete soon after it is placed or when it is still in the plastic state. So, this
type of fine shrinkage cracks may appear on concrete structures. Spalling is also another type of
distress and that is also quite common in existing structures.

A fragment usually in the form of flake or a mass is detached from the concrete member and this
type of distress we call it spalling. So, you can see here that there is a loss of mass on the
concrete pavement and some portion of the concrete is spalled out, look at this picture. This is
also a from ROB (road over bridge). Which is under repair at the moment it near Kolkata and the
structure is damaged.

See here that the concrete is spalled out at this portion. This is the girder you can see that our
longitudinal girder and supported on pier and pier caps and this portion the concrete is lost due to
spalling.
(Refer Slide Time:

Look at this picture, this is also a special type of concrete pavement, it is a concrete overlay
where you will find that cracks appeared a transverse crack and spalling also occurred on the
pavement. This is surface disintegration, look at this picture, this is the surface that is
disintegrated, possibly due to the effect of freezing and thawing. And this is also another picture
of a flyover. When visited we found that several surface disintegrations occurred. The
reinforcements are exposed and the structure is damaged.

(Refer Slide Time: 28:41)

Concrete may also be deteriorated in the form of a dusting. The development of a
material type of thing may appear on the surface of the concrete or on the cement mortar. So, you
can see here that a powdery form appeared on the surface. So, this is called concrete dusting.
This is maybe due to improper construction practices or a brush and type of distress. Look at this
picture. This is a typical picture of honeycombing.

This is also a picture of honeycombing. Recently when we visited, we found that this type of
honeycombing is there on a structure which is only 8 months old. Because of poor construction
practices, maybe the shuttering joints were not slurry tight or the compaction was poor. So that
leads to honeycombing type of distresses. So, voids are created in the concrete due to failure of
the mortar to effectively fill up the spaces and aggregates are exposed. So, this is a typical
honeycombing picture of the concrete structure.

(Refer Slide Time: 30:00)

Blistering, blistering is also another type of distress. This is the irregular raising of a thin layer of
the surface of mortar or concrete during or soon after completion of the finishing operation. This
is like a bulging of the finishing plaster. So, if the finishing is not done properly, there may be
small voids that may appear below the surface this is called blistering. Sometimes the surface get
damaged and disintegrated and a thin flake of mortar may come out. So, this is called peeling
type of distresses in concrete structures.
(Refer Slide Time:

This is scaling, scaling is the surface is disintegrated, a local flaking or peeling away of the near
surface portion occurs from the hardened concrete. So, look at this picture, maybe it is due to
freezing and thawing type of distress. So, this type of scaling type of deterioration of the surface
may occur. This is pop out, pop out is breaking away of the small portion of a concrete surface to
localized internal pressure that leaves a shallow conical shaped depression with the broken
aggregates.

So, look at this picture the aggregates have come out and there is a hole type of distress on the
concrete surface. Look at this picture, this is also from a flyover under repair at the moment and
this is the portion which is damaged you can see here, the girder and the deck slab joint and some
amount of material is lost due to pop out and surface disintegration.
(Refer Slide Time:

Delamination is also another type of distress in concrete, which is found in structures which are
affected due to corrosion of reinforcement. And as we have discussed earlier that due to
corrosion, there are cracks developed and that cracks generally run parallel to the reinforcement
and if many more cracks appeared that may cause a spalling of the concrete member. So, the
portion of the concrete is lost and this is a Delamination type of distress.

So, all these are from the real life structures. So, this portion of the reinforcement is exposed and
the concrete is lost due to delamination. So, the separation along the plane parallel to the surface
or parallel to the reinforcement causes delamination type of distress in concrete members.
Distress may also be due to seepage. Look at this picture, this is a seepage type of distress in
concrete members due to leakage of water.

If the members are not watertight, particularly water retaining structure or so, then water may
penetrate through the member it may cause damage to the concrete as well as damage to the
reinforcement. And sometimes it makes serious distress on the member and reduces the strength
considerably. So, this is a typical seepage type of distress in concrete structures.
(Refer Slide Time:

So to summarize, we have discussed the type of evaluation, the first and foremost the visual
inspection, after the visual inspection if it is found necessary then a detailed investigation need to
be carried out using semi destructive or non-destructive type of testing. And that by analyzing
the results of those testing we can evaluate the condition of the structure. Evaluation can also be
done using structural health monitoring by using a number of embedded sensors into the
structure.

After that we have discussed the several distresses found in concrete structures. And how to
identify the several distresses. The distresses maybe delamination or disintegration of the surface
or maybe cracking, spalling, etcetera. So, we have discussed how to identify all these types of
distresses in concrete structures. Thank you.