# Early-Age Cracking in Concrete: Causes, Consequences, Remedial Measures, and Recommendations
## 7 Remedial Measures for Early-Age Cracking
### Materials and Design Based Remedial Measures  
Cement is one of the important constituents of concrete. Selecting the appropriate cement is crucial to produce good concrete [10; 24; 28; 97]. [PERSON] [24] suggested the use of cement with low C\({}_{3}\)A (tri-calcium aluminate) and high C\({}_{2}\)S (di-calcium silicate) contents to reduce chemical shrinkage, but [PERSON] and [PERSON] [105], [PERSON] and [PERSON] [106], and [PERSON] et al. [107] recommended the use of Type II cement because of its low heat of hydration. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [105] suggested the exclusive use of Type II cement with a maximum content of 279 kg/m\({}^{3}\) (470 lbs/yd\({}^{3}\)), but [PERSON] et al. [107] did not agree with this content and pointed out that a maximum cement content of 391 kg/m\({}^{3}\) (660 lbs/yd\({}^{3}\)) could be used in all mix designs for concrete bridge decks. The selection of aggregates should be carried out carefully. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [106] reported that sandstone with a low modulus of elasticity and high compressibility should be avoided because it is highly sensitive to shrinkage. They were also against the use of aggregates with relatively high water absorption. In addition, coarsely ground or slow reacting cement was recommended [10; 24], but it was not recommended that superplasticizer be minimized or banned [24]. The use of silica fume was suggested with an amount of \(\leq\)6%, and fly ash was recommended to be used with a content of 20%, especially for hot-weather concreting [9; 105]. The use of concrete mix design with high water-to-cement ratio, adequate air content and limited or no silica fume was encouraged to reduce the cracking risk of concrete structures by producing a coarser pore structure [24]. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [105] recommended the use of water-to-cement ratio in the range of 0.38 to 0.47 and an air content at 7%, but [PERSON] et al. [107] suggested that a minimum air content of 6.0% and a maximum coarse aggregate content of 1098 kg/m\({}^{3}\) (1850 lbs/yd\({}^{3}\)) should be used in concrete. It is also important to use the concrete mixtures with low settlement characteristic [37]. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [109] studied the effect of low volume microfibers (polyester and polypropylene fibers) on the plastic shrinkage cracking behavior of concrete. They observed that plastic shrinkage cracks rapidly grow after the initial setting time and stabilize before the final setting of concrete. The shear bond between fibers and fresh concrete paste plays a significant role in reducing plastic shrinkage cracks. The bond strength rapidly increases during the initial to final setting times. The utilization of microfibers reduces the extent of plastic shrinkage cracks by increasing the strain capacity of fresh concrete. [PERSON] et al. [110] studied the effect of bentonite clay in reducing the early-age cracking due to autogenous shrinkage in high-performance concrete. Bentonite clay has the capability to absorb water and thus it is suitable for using as internal curing agent. It has been used as a 5-20% replacement of cement by weight [110]. Research findings reveal that bentonite clay is able to reduce the autogenous shrinkage of concrete, and 10% weight content shows the best performance. [PERSON] et al. [110] reported that the stability of bentonite clay to withstand high temperature gradients and its pozzolanic property