Effect of wall-slab connection details on response of reinforced concrete tanks

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Concrete liquid containing structures (CLCS) are primarily used for the storage of water and wastewater and other industrial wastes. These structures are considered as lifeline facilities that require careful design and detailing to meet serviceability requirements for crack and leakage control. A good understanding of the behavior of these structures is necessary in order to meet safety and serviceability objectives while containing construction and maintenance costs. There is a great deal of inconsistency among the design standards for this important broad class of structures. This is mainly due to the lack of understanding of the behavior of these structures under static and seismic loading. There is debate on the validity of some of the provisions in codes and standards in this regard. In recent years, the designers have moved away from the conventional joint detailing due to construction issues. The use of widespread and inconsistent joint details have raised questions on liquid tightness in these structures. The main objective of the proposed research study is to develop a rational design procedure, through experimental programs, for concrete tanks that assures a safe leak resistant structure. The study will be conducted on specimens that are representative of full scaled base slab-wall connection portion of tanks with different connection details. These specimens while under reversed cyclic loading will be simultaneously subjected to liquid pressure and leakage tests. It is expected that this research program will provide a framework to understand the behavior of CLCS under static and seismic loading. This framework will be useful towards the development of design guides for CLCS.