Cracking of concrete cover along anchored deformed reinforcing bars

Synopsis The state of stress in the concrete due to bond forces from deformed reinforcing bars is analysed. For determination of the cracking resistance of the concrete cover, a concrete ring model is used. The stresses are calculated for an elastic stage, a plastic stage, and an elastic stage with internal ring cracks. The appearance of the concrete cover cracks along the deformed bars in the bond zones for normal cover thickness can be determined by using the mean of the values obtained for the two last stages. The partly cracked elastic stage gives cracking loads just on the safe side.