Experimental and numerical studies on the leakage and patch repair performance of concrete liquid containing structures

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In concrete liquid containing structures, water tightness and durability are considered as major concerns. In addition, there are a large number of concrete tanks across Canada deteriorated over time due to intense weather condition which are in urgent need of an efficient, cost-effective and at the same time practical repair solution. The question that now faces the industry is how to mitigate the uncontrolled cracking phenomenon and its damaging consequences such as leakage in an effort to produce durable, long lasting concrete. For many years, concrete designers, contractors, and ready mix companies have experimented with various means of controlling cracking/leakage which have each met with small degrees of success. Also, reviewing the available literature, one can say that little effort has been done in this field. The main concern here is related to liquid containing structures such as rectangular tanks for water and wastewater treatment plants. Self-healing ECC material may be considered as an efficient solution to the problem. The material can be used for both cracking/leakage control as well as patch repairing purposes. This issue will be addressed in this study both using an experimental study as well as numerical analysis using the non-linear finite element (FE) method. The applicability of crack epoxy injection and GFRP wrapping as other possible repair solutions is also expected to be investigated experimentally during this project. The subject is especially important in concrete liquid containers in which cracking can reduce the structure's integrity, can cause deterioration and serviceability problems associated with leakage. It is believed that developing a methodology by means of newly developed materials to solve this specific problem will help the industry to implement a more economical and effective solution as a replacement to the current customary techniques typically used in practice today.