Case 1

Introduction

Type of Building: Commercial

In this case, cracks have been developed randomly on the basement floor. Water seepage and white patches of efflorescenceare found along these crack lines. The crack of this case can be known as shrinkage crack, since drying induced shrinkage of concrete yield the formation of surface pattern cracking [1-6]. Drying shrinkage is defined as the contraction of a hardened concrete mixture due to the loss of capillary water. As a result, there is unevenness of shrinkage which in turn produces stress. This results in cracking and consequently provides a passage for water seepage.