Prediction method of drying shrinkage crack in reinforced concrete walls

Abstract

Thin plate reinforced concrete members, such as walls and slabs, are greatly influenced by drying shrinkage. In these members, cracks often occur due to the restraint of the volume change caused by drying shrinkage. Therefore, the control of cracking due to drying shrinkage is very important in building construction where thin plate members are frequently used. However, few researches on estimating shrinkage cracking in RC walls have been executed, and the cracking control design of RC walls has been conducted based on experience rather than a quantitative design method. In this study, a practical cracking prediction method using equivalent bond-loss length L-b was proposed for the quantitative drying shrinkage crack control of RC walls. Number of cracks and crack width were estimated using the proposed method. Those values were compared with the results from the experiment and the investigative values from the field study. In general, results from the new prediction method matched well with both the experiment and the field study.