Title:
Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Reservoir Wall Elements under Applied and Thermally-Induced Loadings
Author(s):
Nihal D. Vitharana, M. J. Nigel Priestley, and John A. Dean
Publication:
Structural Journal
Volume:
95
Issue:
3
Appears on pages(s):
238-248
Keywords:
concrete wall; cracking; liquid-retaining structures; reinforced concrete; stiffness properties; tension stiffening; thermal loading
DOI:
10.14359/542
Date:
5/1/1998
Abstract:
According to the recent Codes of Practice (NZ 31061 and AS 37352) for the design of concrete liquid-retaining structures, reservoir walls are required to be designed against applied loadings such as hydrostatic pressure as well as strain-induced loadings such as temperature changes. However, the current level of understanding of the behavior of concrete walls subjected to strain-induced loadings is very limited. In 2this paper, the experimental results of a series of half-scale reinforced concrete wall units are presented. The wall units were subjected to applied and thermally- induced flexural moments with or without a simultaneous in-plane tensile force. The moment-curvature responses under both uni-directional and bi-directional flexural moments were investigated. The experimental responses were compared with the theoretical predictions. The ACI 318-893 Branson type formulations for the calculation of effective flexural stiffness were shown to be accurate and also to be the most feasible approach for establishing the effective moment-curvature response. A modified ACI 318-89 Branson formulation is proposed for the effective moment-curvature prediction of members subjected to combined axial force and flexural moment. It was observed that the concrete tensile strength corresponding to cracking in the wall units is much lower than those recommended in Codes of Practice or those given by standard concrete specimen testing under laboratory conditions, resulting in a significant relaxation of thermal stresses.