Alcali-silica reactions: Mechanisms for crack formations

Alkali-silica reactions (ASR) are found all over the world and cause a large number of damage, which have lead to different sets of requirements in the different countries for the aggregates, the cements and the admixtures. One of the reasons for the damage and the different requirements is that the mechanical behavior of the ASR has not been fully investigated, although the chemical aspects of ASR have been dealt with in depth. This paper presents a unified, mechanical explanation of the ASR damage mechanism, covering the relevant aspects of the diffusion model; the stress-variations in the aggregate, paste and concrete; the critical concentrations of reactive aggregates and alkali; critical aggregate sizes; the critical exposure time and predicts the potential crack patterns.