# Early-Age Cracking in Concrete: Causes, Consequences, Remedial Measures, and Recommendations
## 7 Remedial Measures for Early-Age Cracking  
Early-age cracking always has some risks for concrete structures. However, these risks can be reduced through many remedial measures. The early-age cracking in concrete can be minimized by limiting temperature differences or using shrinkage reducing admixtures. Low-heat cement has been used to limit the temperature induced cracking in concrete. Also, shrinkage reducing admixtures have been used to decrease the stresses resulting from autogenous shrinkage [17].  
Appropriate selection of the constituent materials for concrete, the correct mix design of concrete, the proper planning of concrete casting and construction sequence, the use of insulation for reducing thermal gradients, the installation of control joints, and the cooling of concrete before or after placing are some of the measures to minimize the risk of the early-age cracking in concrete structures [16].  
Temperature or distribution reinforcement can be used to control cracks in hardening concrete structures. This type of reinforcement distributes early-age cracks and prevents the formation of through-cracks. Therefore, the strain capacity of reinforced concrete elements is significantly increased in the presence of distribution reinforcement. Also, the main reinforcement configuration is more important than the reinforcement ratio in controlling the cracking in reinforced concrete elements [17]. The probability of cracking is lower in heavily reinforced concrete (generally true for high-strength concrete) structures. Less cooling joints or fewer dilation joints are required to prevent the early-age through-cracking in reinforced concrete structures.  
The depth of plastic shrinkage cracks can be determined by coring. The extent of random, longitudinal, and transverse cracking over time can be determined by drawing crack map. The depth of cracking and aggregate breakage in the cases of transverse, longitudinal, and corner cracks as well as the bonding of slab with sub-base in the case of random crack can be determined by coring. The bonding of slab with sub-base can be examined by conducting push-off test in the cases of random, transverse, and longitudinal cracks. The joint function can be examined via the pull-out test while investigating transverse and corner cracks. Employing a good quality curing compound in an adequate amount may reduce the extent of plastic shrinkage, random, longitudinal, transverse, and corner cracking [1]. Well-graded sand and combined aggregates are also conducive to decrease the degree of severity of plastic shrinkage and number of random, longitudinal, and transverse cracks.  
From literature survey, the remedial measures can be classified into two groups: materials and design based remedial methods and construction based remedial methods (refer to Table 3). Constituent materials, concrete mix design, and structural design are classed as materials- and design-based remedial measures. In the case of construction based remedial measures, curing, placing sequence and environmental conditions, vibration, cooling method, and formwork are emphasized.