• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.57-65
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• 2007

Over the past few decades, considerable numbers of studies on the durability of concrete have been carried out extensively. A lot of improvements have been achieved especially in both measuring techniques as well as modeling of ionic flows. However, the majority of these researches have been performed on sound uncracked concrete, although most of in-situ concrete structures have more or less micro-cracks. It is only recent approach that the attention has shifted towards the influence of cracks and crack width on the penetration of chloride into concrete. The penetration of chlorides into concrete through the cracks can make a significant harmful effect on reinforcement corrosion. On the other hand, a general acceptable crack width of 0.3 mm has been recognized for keeping the serviceability of concrete structures in accordance with a lot of codes. However, there seems to be rare established description to explain the critical crack width in terms of the durability of concrete. To make a bad situation worse, there is little agreement on critical crack width among a few of literatures for this issue. Critical crack width is still controversial problem. Nevertheless, since the critical crack width is important key for healthy assessment of concrete structures exposed to marine environment, it should be established. The objective of this study is to define a critical crack width. The critical crack width in this study is designed for a threshold crack width, which contributes to the first variation of chloride diffusion coefficient in responsive to the existence of cracks. A simple solution is formulated to realize the quantifiable parameter, chloride diffusion coefficient for only cracked zone excluding sound concrete. From the examination on the trend of chloride diffusion coefficient of only cracked zone for various crack widths, a critical crack width is founded out.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.707-715
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• 2007

The vulnerability of concrete to its environment is significantly dependent on the fact that concrete is a porous material. For well-consolidated and well-cured concrete, its service life is a very long and an entrance of aggressive substance might be only pores. However, for cracked concrete, cracks should be preferential channel for the penetration of aggressive substance such as chloride ions. The effect of crack on chloride penetration depends on its size for example, crack width and crack depth. The purpose of this study is examining the effect of crack width and crack depth on chloride penetration. In order to visualize chloride penetration via cracks, RCM (rapid chloride migration) testing is accomplished. Crack width is examined using an optical microscope and CMOD value is used to estimate average crack width. From the examination on the trend of chloride diffusion coefficients of concrete specimens with various crack widths, a critical crack width and a critical crack depth are found out.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.237-255
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• 2015

From the related engineering principles, analytical solutions for horizontal crack initiation and propagation on a coal panel floor-underlying strata interface due to coal panel excavation are derived in this paper. Two important concepts, namely the critical panel width of horizontal crack initiation on the panel floor-underlying strata interface and the critical panel width of vertical fracture (crack) initiation in the panel floor, have been presented. The resulting analytical solution indicates that: (1) the first criterion can be used to express the condition under which horizontal plane cracks (on the panel floor-underlying strata interface or in the panel floor because of delamination) due to the mining induced vertical stress will initiate and propagate; (2) the second criterion can be used to express the condition under which vertical plane cracks (in the panel floor) due to the mining induced horizontal stress will initiate and propagate; (3) this orthogonal set of horizontal and vertical plane cracks, once formed, will provide the necessary weak network for the flow of gas to inrush into the panel. Two characteristic equations are given to quantitatively estimate both the critical panel width of vertical fracture initiation in the panel floor and the critical panel width of horizontal crack initiation on the interface between the panel floor and its underlying strata. The significance of this study is to provide not only some theoretical bases for understanding the fundamental mechanism of a longwall floor gas inrush problem but also a benchmark solution for verifying any numerical methods that are used to deal with this kind of gas inrush problem.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.945-948
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• 2006

Chloride penetration into concrete is a hot issue of concern all over the world, notwithstanding, very few attempts have been conducted to explore the effect of cracks on choride penetration. Cracks provoke to lose a main function of watertightness of concrete and lead to reduce the service life of concrete. For this reason, it is necessary to define a critical crack width to prevent a quick chloride penetration through crack. In this study, experiment is focused on establishing a critical crack width in terms of chloride penetration. Concrete specimens with different crack widths I crack lengths have been subjected to rapid chloride migration testing. In a side of analytical solution, a simple approach to quantify the chloride diffusion coefficient of only crack zone excluding sound concrete was proposed. The result clearly showed a critical crack width of 0.03 mm. Based on the experimental results, a phenomenological model was proposed to explain the meaning of critical crack width in practical engineering. In this model, cracked concrete zone was divided into three zones. These zones corresponded to a wide crack, a zone with micro-cracks and an uncracked zone.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.79-87
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• 2011

In this study, the chloride penetration tests were performed for the initially cracked reinforced concrete members. The chloride diffusion characteristics and the critical crack width are compared, and the properties of self-healing are investigated. According to the test results, the chloride penetration resistance was greatly reduced as the surface crack width increased. When the mineral admixtures are added, the chloride penetration resistance of uncracked specimens were effectively increased, however, in case of the blast furnace slag and fly ash, the cracked specimens showed the more reduced resistance than OPC case, inversely. Also, the critical width was $29{\mu}m$, on average, for immersion test. The crack width with $4{\sim}15{\mu}m$ was restored by self-healing, The parts restored by self-healing were seemed to be visually restored, however, the chloride penetration resistance was not restored, perfectly.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.159-180
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• 2003

In this paper spacing and width of flexural cracks in reinforced concrete beams are determined using two-dimensional finite element analysis. At early loading stages on the beam the primary crack spacing is based on the slip length, which is the development length required to resist the steel stress increment that occurs at a cracked section on the formation of the first flexural crack. A semi-empirical formula is presented in this paper for the determination of the slip length for a given beam. At higher load levels, the crack spacing is based on critical crack spacing, which is defined as the particular crack spacing that would produce a concrete tensile stress equal to the flexural strength of concrete. The resulting crack width is calculated as the relative difference in extensions of steel reinforcement and adjacent concrete evaluated at the cracked section. Finally a comparative study is undertaken, which indicates that the spacing and width of cracks calculated by this method agree well with values measured by other investigators.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.1285-1293
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• 1992

The fracture behavior of glass/epoxy plain woven composite plates containing circular holes is experimentally investigated to examine the effects of hole size and specimen width on notched tensile strength. It is shown in this paper that the characteristic length according to the point stress criterion depends on the hole size and specimen width. For predicting the notched tensile strength, a modified failure criterion is developed. An excellent agreement is found between the experimental results and the analytical prediction of modified failure criterion. The notched strength and the characteristic length have an increase and decrease relations. When the unstable fracture occured, the critical crack length equivalent for the damage zone size at the edge of hole is about twice the characteristic length. The critical energy release rate G$_{c}$ is independent of hole size(0.03 .leq. 2R/W .leq. 0.5) under the same specimen width. However G$_{c}$ increases with an increase in specimen width which can be explained by stress relaxation due to the notch insensitivity.ity.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.69-80
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• 1999

The strengthening of reinforced concrete structures by externally bonded GFRP has become increasingly common in resent years. However the analysis and design method for GFRP plate strengthening of RC beams is not well established yet. The purpose of present paper is, therefore, to define the failure mechanism and failure behavior of strengthened RC beam using GFRP and then to propose a resonable method for the calculation of interface debonding load for those beams. From the experimental results of beams strengthened by GFRP, the influence of length and thickness, width of plate on the interfacial debonding failure behavior of beam is studied and, on the basis of test results, the semi-empirical equation to predict debonding load is developed. The proposed theory based on nonlinear analysis and critical flexural crack width, predicts relatively well the debonding failure load of test beams and may be efficiently used in the analysis and design of strengthened RC beams using GFRP.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.407-424
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• 2016

This study tests ten full-size simple-supported beam specimens with the high-strength reinforcing steel bars (SD685 and SD785) using the four-point loading. The measured compressive strength of the concrete is in the range of 70-100 MPa. The main variable considered in the study is the shear-span to depth ratio. Based on the experimental data that include maximum shear crack width, residual shear crack width, angle of the main crack and shear drift ratio, a simplified equation are proposed to predict the shear deformation of the high-strength reinforced concrete (HSRC) beam member. Besides the post-earthquake damage assessment, these results can also be used to build the performance-based design for HSRC structures. And using the allowable shear stress at the peak maximum shear crack width of 0.4 and 1.0 mm to suggest the design formulas that can ensure service-ability (long-term loading) and reparability (short-term loading) for shear-critical HSRC beam members.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.81-90
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• 2022

In this study, for one-way concrete slabs, the flexural strength, deflection, and crack width according to the amount of reinforcing bars were compared for the cases of using steel reinforcing bars and CFRP reinforcing bars. Critical performance dominating the flexural design was investigated and how to design the CFRP-reinforced concrete slab with efficiency was also discussed. It was found that CFRP-reinforced concrete slabs could achieve greater design flexural strength with the same amount of reinforcing bars compared to those using steel rebar, while deflection and crack width were relatively much larger. In concrete slabs using CFRP reinforcing bars, it was confirmed that the maximum crack width acts as a dominant factor in the design. For more efficient flexural design, it is necessary to mitigate the allowable crack width to 0.7 mm and to apply smaller diameter reinforcing bars to control the crack width.