Water soaking is an important surface disorder of strawberries that limits unprotected field production. The objective was to identify the mechanism(s) of water soaking. Symptomatic fruit show pale, deliquescent patches of skin. This damage extends into the flesh. Numerous cuticular microcracks occurred in water-soaked areas. Water soaking occurred only if the skin was exposed to liquid water. Water soaking was more rapid when the cuticle had been abraded. Water soaking, anthocyanin leakage, and water uptake all increased with incubation time. There was a lag phase for water soaking and anthocyanin leakage, but not for water uptake. Susceptibility to water soaking increased with fruit ripening and mass. Incubation in isotonic PEG 6000 increased cuticular microcracking but decreased water soaking and water uptake. Incubation in hypotonic fruit juice (natural and artificial) increased water soaking incidence and severity but reduced water uptake. Incubation in dilute citric and malic acids increased plasma membrane permeability as indexed by anthocyanin leakage and increased water soaking. Thus, water soaking involves cuticular microcracking, localized water uptake, bursting of cells, and the release of organic acids into the apoplast. The damage propagates from cell to cell.
M-color 9.7 Crack
Figure 1. (A) Macroscopic view of fruit with water soaking symptoms; (B) Detail of achenes with surrounding water-soaked area viewed under a light microscope; (C) Micrograph of cross-section of tissue with water soaking. (D,E) Scans of the surface in a digital microscope of non-treated and water-soaked fruit with numerous microcracks. (F,G) Micrographs of developing symptoms of water soaking viewed under incident (F) and fluorescent light (G). Microcracks were infiltrated with acridine orange. The penetrated fluorescent tracer appears as a green fluorescence around a microcrack in the cuticle. Water soaking symptoms are marked by a solid white line. White asterisks in A, B, C, E, F and G identify the water-soaked area. Scale bar in (A) = 5 mm, (B,C) = 1 mm, (D,E) = 0.1 mm and in (F,G) = 0.5 mm.
Figure 5. Time course of (A) change in water-soaked area, (B) change in the area infiltrated by acridine orange, and (C) water uptake of strawberries incubated in deionized water. (D) Relationship between the water-soaked area and the area infiltrated by acridine orange. Acridine orange penetrates the strawberry fruit skin via microcracks in the cuticle. Water soaking was indexed using a 5-point rating scale: score 0, no water soaking; score 1, 60%.
Figure 9. Time course of (A) change in water-soaked area, (B) change in the area infiltrated by acridine orange, and (C) water uptake of strawberries incubated in deionized water or in isotonic polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG 6000). (D) Relationship between the water-soaked area and the area infiltrated by acridine orange. Acridine orange penetrates the strawberry fruit skin via microcracks in the cuticle. Water soaking was indexed using a 5-point rating scale: score 0, no water soaking; score 1, 60%.
Designing for effective crack control requires an understanding of the sources of stress which may cause cracking. It would be a simple matter to prevent cracking if there were only one variable. However, prevention is made more difficult by the fact that cracking often results from a combination of sources.
There are a variety of potential causes of cracking. Understanding the cause of potential cracking allows the designer to incorporate appropriate design procedures to control it. The most common causes of cracking in concrete masonry are shown in Figure 1 and are discussed below.
Cracking resulting from shrinkage can occur in concrete masonry walls because of drying shrinkage, temperature fluctuations, and carbonation. These cracks occur when masonry panels are restrained from moving.
Although mortar, grout, and concrete masonry units are all concrete products, unit shrinkage has been shown to be the predominate indicator of the overall wall shrinkage principally due to the fact that it represents the largest portion of the wall. Therefore, the shrinkage properties of the unit alone are typically used to establish design criteria for crack control.
Various building materials may react differently to changes in temperature, moisture, or structural loading. Any time materials with different properties are combined in a wall system, a potential exists for cracking due to differential movement. With concrete masonry construction, two materials in particular should be considered: clay brick and structural steel.
Differential movement between clay brick and concrete masonry must be considered when the two are attached since concrete masonry has an overall tendency to shrink while clay brick masonry tends to expand. These differential movements may cause cracking, especially in composite construction and in walls that incorporate brick and block in the same wythe.
When clay brick is used as an accent band in a concrete masonry wall, or vice-versa, the differential movement of the two materials may result in cracking unless provisions are made to accommodate the movement. To reduce cracking, slip planes between the band and the surrounding wall, horizontal reinforcement or more frequent control joints or a combination thereof can be used to control cracking. See Crack Control for Concrete Brick and Other Concrete Masonry Veneers (ref. 6) for more information on these approaches.
As walls and beams deflect under structural loads, cracking may occur. Additionally, deflection of supporting members can induce cracks in masonry elements. To reduce the potential for cracking, the following alternatives are available:
All wall systems are subject to potential cracking from externally applied design loads due to wind, soil pressure or seismic forces. Cracking due to these sources is controlled by applying appropriate structural design criteria such as allowable stress design or strength design. These criteria are discussed in detail in Allowable Stress Design of Concrete Masonry and Strength Design Provisions for Concrete Masonry (refs. 1 and 9).
Differential settlement occurs when portions of the supporting foundation subside due to weak or improperly compacted foundation soils. Foundation settlement typically causes a stair-step crack along the mortar joints in the settled area as shown in Figure 1. Preventing settlement cracking depends on a realistic evaluation of soil bearing capacity, and on proper footing design and construction.
In addition to the proper design strategies discussed above for structural capacity and differential movement, the following recommendations can be applied to limit cracking in concrete masonry walls.
Traditionally, crack control in concrete masonry has relied on specifying concrete masonry units with a low moisture content, using horizontal reinforcement, and using control joints to accommodate movement. Prior to the 2000 edition of ASTM C90 (ref. 8), low moisture content was specified by requiring a Type I moisture controlled unit. The intent was to provide designers an assurance of units with lower moisture content to minimize potential shrinkage cracking. However, there are several limitations to relying on moisture content alone since there are other factors that influence shrinkage which are not accounted for by specifying a Type I unit. Additionally, Type I units were not always inventoried by concrete masonry manufacturers. Most importantly, Type I units needed to be kept protected until placed in the wall, which was proven to be difficult on some projects. Because of the above problems associated with the Type I specification, ASTM removed the designations of Type I, Moisture-Controlled Units and Type II, Nonmoisture Controlled Units from the standard.
Control joints are essentially vertical separations built into the wall to reduce restraint and permit longitudinal movement. Because shrinkage cracks in concrete masonry are an aesthetic rather than a structural concern, control joints are typically only required in walls where shrinkage cracking may detract from the appearance or where water penetration may occur. TEK 10-2C (ref. 4) provides much more detailed information on control joint details, types and locations.
In addition to external restraint, reinforcement causes some internal restraint within the wall. Reinforcement responds to temperature changes with corresponding changes in length; however, reinforcement does not undergo volumetric changes due to moisture changes or carbonation. Consequently, as the wall shrinks, the reinforcement undergoes elastic shortening (strain) which results in compressive stress in the steel. Correspondingly, the surrounding masonry offsets this compression by tension. At the point when the masonry cracks and tries to open, the stress in the reinforcement turns to tension and acts to limit the width of the crack by holding it closed.
The net effect is that reinforcement controls crack width by causing a greater number (frequency) of cracks to occur. As the horizontal reinforcement ratio (cross-sectional area of horizontal steel vs. vertical cross-sectional area of masonry) increases, crack width decreases. Smaller sized reinforcement at closer spacings is more effective than larger reinforcement at wider spacings, although horizontal reinforcement at spacings up to 144 in. (3658 mm) is considered effective in controlling crack widths in some areas.
Studies have shown that reinforcement, either in the form of joint reinforcement or reinforced bond beams, effectively limits crack width in concrete masonry walls. As indicated previously, as the level of reinforcement increases and as the spacing of the reinforcement decreases, cracking becomes more uniformly distributed and crack width decreases. For this reason, a minimal amount of horizontal reinforcement is needed when utilizing the NCMA recommended maximum control joint spacings (refs. 3 & 4). 2ff7e9595c
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