Cover in civil engineering has a different meaning.The steel bars in the concrete sections like slab,beam,column and footing must be protected from the environment.Otherwise they start corroding and the structure becomes weak and eventually fails like Old Mandovi Bridge at Panaji-Goa.
The steel bars must be fully covered from all sides by concrete.So while concreteting to keep these bars at a specified distance from the edge,cover blocks are used. Usually people due to ignorance or in the false notion of money saving use brickpieces,tile pieces, stone chips etc. They slip off during concreteing and the steel bars come to the edge.
In the recent past some people started making PVC cover blocks.
However PVC is a foreign material to concrete and does not form a proper bond with it.
The best way is to use pre cast factory made concrete cover blocks with high strength and low water permeability.
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