213. EXPERIMENTAL DAMAGE-TRANSPORT CORRELATIONS FOR UNIAXIALLY-LOADED REINFORCED CONCRETE WALLS

Department: Structural Engineering
Faculty Advisor(s): Tara Hutchinson

Primary Student
Name: Travis E Soppe
Email: tsoppe@ucsd.edu
Phone: 208-861-6913
Grad Year: 2009

Abstract
Concrete is perhaps the most versatile and widely used building material in the world. In particular, concrete is used more than any other material for contaminant storage because it shields against neutron and gamma rays, can be easily molded, is cost effective, and requires little maintenance. In the United States, much of the hazardous material generated in is stored in unlined concrete storage containers comprised of concrete shear walls. Although concrete is an excellent material for containment structures, it is still susceptible to leakage. When uncracked, concrete is nearly impervious, however, once cracked the concrete’s permeability greatly increases. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the relationship between concrete damage (cracking) and air flow (air permeability) using model-scale reinforced concrete element (wall) tests. The first phase of this work focuses on testing these panels under uniaxial cyclic loading, while the second phase focuses on loading the walls in a cantilever shear wall (biaxial) configuration. This poster presentation will summarize the first phase of the work. Overall the method for evaluating the damage-flow rate relationship includes structural testing of scaled specimens, damage identification, and air flow rate experiments. Structural testing for phase one involved nine model specimens with variations in geometry, material, and loading details, all of which have a well defined region of interest for damage identification and air flow testing. Air permeability was measured at different loading stages using pressure decay tests and damage is identified through crack length and width measurements. The information gathered in these experiments is then compared and assessed with formulas available in the literature for determining leakage rates. Results indicate that low concrete strength, low reinforcement ratio, and loading protocol have the greatest affect in increasing the permeability of the cracked concrete. The cracked concrete permeability was reduced when using high strength concrete and more reinforcement (high reinforcement ratio). Comparison of the experimental air permeability (air flow) with formula’s available in the literature indicates that a reasonable, consistent estimation of leakage rate may be obtained.

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