EXTENT OF HEALING OF CRACKED NORMAL STRENGTH CONCRETE

By Corina-Maria Aldea,1 Won-Joon Song,2 John S. Popovics,3 Associate Member, ASCE,

and Surendra P. Shah,4 Member, ASCE

ABSTRACT: The goal of the research presented here is to investigate the extent of healing of cracked concrete.
A feedback-controlled test was used to generate a crack with a controlled width in concrete specimens. Then,
water permeability was evaluated by a low-pressure water permeability test (WPT). Elastic wave signal trans-
mission measurements were performed immediately after cracking and repeated after 100 days of WPT. Im-
mediately after cracking, water permeability increased and the signal transmission decreased with increasing
initial crack width. The water permeability of cracked specimens decreased significantly, whereas the signal
transmission increased with time. Both permeability and transmission measurements suggest autogenous healing
of the cracks. However, the recovery in signal transmission with crack healing is not as spectacular as changes
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in permeability, inferring only partial mechanical healing of the cracks.

INTRODUCTION uated by the low pressure water permeability test. A

Results in the literature indicate that the water flow through
cracked concrete decreases with time. The most likely reasons
for the decrease in flow with time are autogenous healing of
cracks, first reported by Abrams (1925), and self-sealing of
uncracked material (Hearn 1992; Hearn and Morley 1997).
Possible reasons for healing are chemical precipitation of cal-
cium hydroxide and calcium carbonate, mechanical blocking,
obstruction of narrow crack areas with ultrafine material, and
swelling and rehydration of the hardened cement paste on the
crack walls.
The rate of healing depends on the initial effective crack
width. For example, cracks with an initial effective width less
than 50 microns reduce to 20 microns within 24 hours, and
cracks with an initial effective width between 50 and 100 mi-
crons reduce to an effective width of 20 microns within seven
days (Clear 1985). Other studies show that cracks with initial
effective widths of 200 microns after sufficiently long water
exposure can completely seal after five to seven weeks (Ed-
vardsen 1996).
A variety of methods have been used to investigate the heal-
ing of cracks. Most of the studies focus on observing depo-
sition of hydration products between the crack lips using an
optical microscope, a scanning electron microscope (SEM),
x-ray diffraction analysis, or chemical and mineralogical stud-
ies. Besides mechanical tests, nondestructive evaluation tech-
niques based on ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) measurement
have been used to assess crack healing (Munday et al. 1974;
Abdel-Jawad and Haddad 1992). Although UPV measure-
ments can detect the occurrence of crack healing, it has been
shown that this method cannot accurately determine the extent
of crack healing.
Feedback-controlled splitting tensile tests were used to in-
duce microcracks of designed widths in the concrete speci-
mens. Water permeability of cracked samples was then eval-
1
Postdoctoral Fellow, NSF Ctr. for Sci. and Technol. of Advanced
Cement-Based Mat., Northwestern Univ., 2145 Sheridan Rd., Evanston,
IL 60208-4400.
2
Graduate Student, Ctr. for Quality Engrg. and Failure Prevention,
Northwestern Univ., 2145 Sheridan Rd., Evanston, IL.
3
Asst. Prof., Drexel Univ., Dept. of Civ. and Arch. Engrg., Philadel-
phia, PA 19104.
4
Dir., NSF Ctr. for Sci. and Technol. of Advanced Cement-Based Mat.,
Northwestern Univ., 2145 Sheridan Rd., Evanston, IL.
Note. Associate Editor: J. J. Beaudoin. Discussion open until July 1,
2000. To extend the closing date one month, a written request must be
filed with the ASCE Manager of Journals. The manuscript for this tech-
nical note was submitted for review and possible publication on August
12, 1998. This technical note is part of the Journal of Materials in Civil
Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 1, February, 2000. 䉷ASCE, ISSN 0899-1561/
00/0001-0092–0096/$8.00 ⫹ $.50 per page. Technical Note No. 18965.
92 / JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING / FEBRUARY 2000
nondestructive evaluation technique, which uses stress wave
transmission measurement, was used to quantify the extent of
healing of cracked concrete. Results of the present research
suggest that, in the considered cracking range, water flow
through cracked samples tends to become comparable to that
of uncracked ones. Long-term permeability showed a decrease
due to the ability of concrete to seal itself over time. One-
sided stress wave transmission measurement proved to be a
useful method to quantify autogenous healing of cracks.
EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
The study presented here is part of an ongoing project deal-
ing with permeability of concrete. The experimental procedure
is fully described by Aldea et al. (1999). This paper will focus
on normal strength concrete (NSC) results.
Test Series and Mix Proportions
Tables 1 and 2 present the mix proportions and, respectively,
material properties of the concrete. 100 ⫻ 200 mm cylindrical
molds were used for casting. Cylinders were stored in a con-
trolled environment chamber at 20⬚C and 100% RH until the
age of 28 days, then sawed into 25 or 50 mm thick slices.
Middle slices were used for testing. Samples were soaked in
water at room temperature immediately after cutting, as well
as between tests. Cutting was performed a day before inducing
cracks by means of the feedback-controlled splitting test. The
average widths of the induced cracks ranged from 14 to 350
microns and one sample for each crack width was tested.
Cracked samples were subjected to signal transmission mea-
surements, then vacuum saturated according to ASTM C1202-
94 (‘‘Standard’’ 1994) and set up for the water permeability
test (WPT). A total of twelve samples were used for both water
permeability and signal transmission measurements.
Feedback-Controlled Test
Feedback-controlled splitting tests were used to induce a
width-controlled crack in each specimen, as fully described by
Wang et al. (1997) and Aldea et al. (1999). Because of the
geometry of the testing arrangement, it is likely that a single
crack was generated in each sample along the loading direc-
tion. The displacement was monitored on both sides of the
specimen with two linear variable displacement transducers
(LVDT), where the controlled variable was the average of their
records (Gettu et al. 1996). Specimens were loaded under the
feedback-controlled condition until the average crack width
reached the desired imposed value and then unloaded. The
cracks partly closed with unloading.

J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2000.12:92-96.

 TABLE 1. Concrete Mix Proportions

Weight per cubic meter

of material
Mix ingredients (kg)
(1) (2)
Cement 81.905
Coarse aggregate (10 mm) 304.010
Fine aggregate 132.544
Water added 50.374
W/C 0.45

TABLE 2. Concrete Material Properties

Material properties NSC
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(1) (2)
Slump (cm) 7.5
Modulus of elasticitya (GPa) 19.12
Tensile strengtha (MPa) 3.84 FIG. 2. Permeability Coefficient as Function of Time, NSC, 50
Compressive strengtha (MPa) 36 mm; Initial Crack Width = 205 Microns
a
Measured at 28 days.
time; consequently, the permeability drastically decreases, as
seen in Fig. 2. In general, permeability decreases by several
Water Permeability Test orders of magnitude, although the decrease in permeability co-
efficient depends on initial crack opening. The results of the
The WPT of the cracked samples consisted of monitoring present research showed that, for all the cracked specimens,
the water level in the pipette and then refilling it at the initial the permeability tended to decrease to the range corresponding
level with a syringe, as shown in Fig. 1 (Wang et al. 1997; to that of the uncracked material. This behavior reveals the
Aldea et al. 1999). During the test, only inflow was measured. ability of cracked concrete to seal itself in time.
The whole setup is based on the idea of axial water flow The experimental results (90–100 days) suggest that both
through the sample, due to a low pressure of approximately cracked and uncracked material exhibit changes in permeabil-
30 cm head. The change in head was recorded regularly, de- ity (Fig. 2). However, the decrease in permeability for un-
pending on the average crack opening after unloading and the cracked concrete is relatively small as compared with cracked
time elapsed after the beginning of the test. Water permeability specimens.
was monitored up to 90–100 days for all the specimens tested.
The permeability coefficient was used to quantify water flow, Investigation of Autogenous Crack Healing Using
and it was calculated assuming laminar flow through the Nondestructive Evaluation Technique
cracked material, based on Darcy’s law, and using the as-
sumption of the continuity of flow (Wang et al. 1997; Aldea It has been demonstrated that ultrasonic signal transmission
et al. 1999). measurement, performed under laboratory conditions, is a very
sensitive indicator of the presence of cracking damage in con-
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS crete (Sellick et al. 1998). However, the practical application
of signal transmission measurements in concrete has been re-
Investigation of Autogenous Crack Healing Using stricted because of the disrupting effects of source, receiver,
WPT and coupling variability. Practical signal transmission mea-
surements in metals have been obtained through the use of a
Water permeability was monitored up to 90–100 days for ‘‘self-compensating’’ procedure. Recently, a one-sided, self-
all the specimens tested. Water flow drastically decreases with compensating technique that allows practical measurement of
signal transmission in concrete was developed at Northwestern
University (Popovics et al. 1998). It has been established that
signal transmission measurement is more sensitive to the ex-
tent of cracking in concrete than wave velocity measurement
(Song et al. 1999).
The extent of crack healing was monitored using this non-
destructive evaluation technique. Elastic (stress) waves are
generated by a point load acting on the surface of the specimen
and are detected by receivers (miniature accelerometers),
mounted with wax on the surface of the specimen along a
diametral line through the source. The experimental setup is
presented in Fig. 3. The received transient response is domi-
nated by the surface wave arrival, although other direct and
reflected wave arrivals are also captured. As the waves prop-
agate between the two receivers, a portion of the total signal
is transmitted and the rest is attenuated. The signal transmis-
sion between the receivers is calculated in the frequency do-
main; this enables the application of the self-compensating
scheme, which minimizes experimental errors caused by var-
iation of impact events, accelerometer coupling, etc. The ob-
tained transmission response is a function of frequency and
FIG. 1. Water Permeability Test (WPT) Setup can be visualized as the ratio of the amplitude of the signal
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FIG. 3. Experimental Setup for One-Sided Signal Transmission Measurement

from the far accelerometer to that of the near accelerometer. come closer to that corresponding to the uncracked sample
Thus, a transmission value of 1 indicates complete signal (Fig. 5, dotted line). The observed recovery in signal trans-
transmission (no signal amplitude loss), whereas a value of 0 mission suggests significant closing (filling) of cracks in each
indicates no signal transmission (complete signal amplitude case.
loss). Both permeability and transmission measurements confirm
One-sided stress wave transmission measurements were autogenous healing of the cracks. The recovery of the per-
used to characterize the material immediately after inducing meability coefficient for samples with varying initial crack
the crack, and then after 100 days of WPT. A solenoid-driven widths (including uncracked samples) is presented in Fig. 6.
impact source that generated waves with a frequency content The initial permeability coefficient (k,1) is compared with the
of 0–60 kHz was used to produce the waves. The signals were permeability coefficient after 100 days of WPT (k,100) for
captured by a digital oscilloscope and sent to a computer with
GPIB interface for further signal processing. The spacings be-
tween the source-receiver and the receiver-receiver were 20
mm. The source and receiver locations were marked and kept
constant for all the tests performed on each of the samples.
Five signals were recorded for each test. All the signals ob-
tained from the samples showed good consistency in the fre-
quency range of 30–60 kHz. Accordingly, the data within this
region was analyzed. Signal transmission values were sensitive
to the presence of the crack for all the specimens tested (Fig.
4). A drastic drop in transmission value, compared with the
uncracked material, is seen in the case of initial cracks wider
than 100 microns. The transmission measurements clearly dis-
tinguish a crack width threshold; crack widths less than 100
microns show much greater signal transmission than those
above 100 microns. The transmission measurements are unable
to clearly distinguish between crack widths within the range
above 100 microns, however. Transmission measurements per-
formed after 100 days of WPT show a significant change for FIG. 5. Signal Transmission Immediately after Inducing Crack
the cracked samples; the transmission values increase and be- and Again After 100 Days of WPT for Varying Initial Crack Width,
NSC, 50 mm

FIG. 4. Signal Transmission Immediately after Inducing Crack

but Before WPT for Varying Initial Crack Width, NSC, 50 mm FIG. 6. Healing Effect on Permeability Coefficient, NSC

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J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2000.12:92-96.

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FIG. 7. Healing Effect on Signal Transmission, NSC
several initial crack widths. The permeability of cracked con-
crete decreases by several orders of magnitude after WPT. In
fact, the permeability of the cracked concrete after 100 days
of WPT is approximately the same as that for uncracked con-
crete. The increase in signal transmission after WPT for sev-
eral initial crack widths is presented in Fig. 7. The transmis-
sion area, obtained by integrating the transmission of the
signal over the usable frequency range (30–60 kHz), is used
to represent the signal transmission in the concrete samples
(Fig. 7). The signal transmission area immediately after crack-
ing (A,1) is compared with that after 100 days WPT (A,100).
Signal transmission areas for the cracked samples calculated
after 100 days WPT become closer to those corresponding to
the uncracked sample. However, the recovery in signal with
crack healing is not as spectacular as that observed for per-
meability; the signal transmission of the cracked concrete after
WPT never recovers to the value of the uncracked concrete.
This suggests that, although the healed cracks are filled with
products that drastically reduce water flow, these products are
more mechanically compliant than sound material.
CONCLUSIONS
The following conclusions are drawn based on the data pre-
sented in this paper:
• The permeability of cracked concrete decreases signifi-
cantly with water flow over time.
• Elastic wave signal transmission measurements are sen-
sitive to crack width in concrete; larger crack widths cause
reduced signal transmission.
• The signal transmission of cracked specimens increases
after 100 days of water flow.
• Both permeability and signal transmission measurements
suggest autogenous healing of the cracks. However, the
recovery in signal transmission with crack healing is not
as spectacular as that in permeability. This might be due
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING / FEBRUARY 2000 / 95
J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2000.12:92-96.
to the fact that the material filling the cracks is more me-
chanically compliant than sound (uncracked) concrete.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research was carried out at the ACBM Center, Northwestern Uni-
versity. Support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through
grant DMS/9313013 to the National Institute of Statistical Sciences
(NISS) is greatly appreciated.
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