Good practices (GP) for the execution of concrete ground slabs, to avoid the fissures and cracks

Concrete ground slabs are non-structural elements designed to provide a horizontal firm in certain areas of buildings, either as a final finish or as a base to receive other types of flooring [1]. Non-structural elements as the ground slabs, are often executed by workers without a specialization in work with concrete, so they usually ignore important good practices (GP) that must be taken into account, leading to a pathology, with recurring injuries such as: fissures or cracks and humidity. Specifying in the fissures or cracks, different types are distinguished: fissures of retraction or contraction of the concrete; cracks due to the absence of separation joints or insulation with constructive elements; cracks due to the lack of compaction of the support base, or due to changes in soil moisture conditions and cracks due to the different support conditions between the ground and the foundations [1-4]. Cracks problems in ground slabs usually have their causes in the different phases of the construction process: design, execution and maintenance [1]. These cracks are tried to solve prescribing in the project three different strategies: using concrete that incorporate fiber additions; placing a distribution armature, or prescribing an adequate separation of joints (considering the thickness of the screed) and obviously through the combination of these strategies This paper presents a summary of a research project carried out by Arpada company, about the causes of cracking in concrete ground slabs, based on the first two phases of the construction process: design and execution. The research has been developed in three stages with different methodologies. In the first stage, a literature and documentary search was carried out about the most recurrent pathology in concrete ground slabs, taking into account the composition of the ground slabs. In the second stage, it have been studied ⁱn situ eleven ground slabs built by Arpada over the past two years, confirming that the execution of the ground slabs coincided with the composition and prescription defined in the projects, as well as if there was any difficulty during the execution of them. Also an inventory of the pathology presented by each slab has been made, with special interest in the fissures and cracks, trying to determine the possible causes that have produced them and in the phase of the construction process that have happened. Finally, in the third stage, the results obtained in each group of similar ground slabs have been compared, and good practices have been defined to be carried out and considered in the execution project of this work unit.