Strategic reinforcement for controlling volume-change cracking in base-restrained concrete walls

Abstract

In this work the control of volume-change cracking in concrete walls with continuous base restrains was considered. Investigators and design codes have proposed several different procedures for the calculation of the amount and distribution of steel reinforcement required for the control of this type of cracking. All these methods provide amounts of reinforcement which are in excess to that really required. This is either due to simplifying the design procedure or neglecting the effect of variable restraint in the wall. Since crack formation and its width depends on the amount of total restrained movement in th concrete member, steel reinforcement is necessary only in positions in which wide cracks are expected to form. Using finite-element analysis to obtain the distribution of restraint in the wall, degree-of-restraint contour diagrams in walls with different length/height ratios of 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 were prepared. These diagrams can be used to determine the amount and distribution of steel reinsforcement in positions in which it is really effective in controlling cracking. At positions of low restraint in the walls in which no or only narrow cracks will form, only minimum reinforcement will be provided.