Circular Water Tank Design
INTRODUCTION
Conventionally reinforced circular concrete tanks
have been used extensively. They will be the focus
of our lecture today
Structural design must focus on both the strength
and serviceability. The tank must withstand applied
loads without cracks that would permit leakage.
This is achieved by:
Providing proper reinforcement and distribution
Proper spacing and detailing of construction joints
Use of quality concrete placed using proper
construction procedures
A thorough review of the latest report by ACI 350 is
important for understanding the design of tanks.
LOADING CONDITIONS
The tank must be designed to withstand the loads
that it will be subjected to during many years of
use. Additionally, the loads during construction
must also be considered.
Loading conditions for partially buried tank.
The tank must be designed and detailed to withstand
the forces from each of these loading conditions
LOADING CONDITIONS
The tank may also be subjected to uplift forces from
hydrostatic pressure at the bottom when empty.
It is important to consider all possible loading
conditions on the structure.
Full effects of the soil loads and water pressure
must be designed for without using them to
minimize the effects of each other.
The effects of water table must be considered for
the design loading conditions.
DESIGN METHODS
Two approaches exist for the design of RC members
Strength design, and allowable stress design.
Strength design is the most commonly adopted
procedure for conventional buildings
The use of strength design was considered
inappropriate due to the lack of reliable assessment
of crack widths at service loads.
Advances in this area of knowledge in the last two
decades has led to the acceptance of strength design
methods
The recommendations for strength design suggest
inflated load factors to control service load crack
widths in the range of 0.004 – 0.008 in.
Design Methods
Service state analyses of RC structures should
include computations of crack widths and their long
term effects on the structure durability and
functional performance.
The current approach for RC design include
computations done by a modified form of elastic
analysis for composite reinforced steel/concrete
systems.
The effects of creep, shrinkage, volume changes, and
temperature are well known at service level
The computed stresses serve as the indices of
performance of the structure.
DESIGN METHODS
The load combinations to determine the required
strength (U) are given in ACI 318. ACI 350 requires
two modifications
Modification 1 – the load factor for lateral liquid
pressure is taken as 1.7 rather than 1.4. This may be
over conservative due to the fact that tanks are filled to
the top only during leak testing or accidental overflow
Modification 2 – The members must be designed to
meet the required strength. The ACI required strength U
must be increased by multiplying with a sanitary
coefficient
The increased design loads provide more conservative
design with less cracking.
Required strength = Sanitary coefficient X U
Where, sanitary coefficient = 1.3 for flexure, 1.65 for
direct tension, and 1.3 for shear beyond the capacity
provided by the concrete.
WALL THICKNESS
The walls of circular tanks are subjected to ring or
hoop tension due to the internal pressure and
restraint to concrete shrinkage.
Any significant cracking in the tank is unacceptable.
The tensile stress in the concrete (due to ring tension
from pressure and shrinkage) has to kept at a
minimum to prevent excessive cracking.
The concrete tension strength will be assumed 10%
f’c in this document.
RC walls 10 ft. or higher shall have a minimum
thickness of 12 in.
The concrete wall thickness will be calculated as
follows:
REINFORCEMENT
The size of re-bars should be chosen recognizing
that cracking can be better controlled by using
larger number of small diameter bars rather than
fewer large diameter bars
The size of reinforcing bars should not exceed #11.
Spacing of re-bars should be limited to a maximum
of 12 in. Concrete cover should be at least 2 in.
In circular tanks the locations of horizontal splices
should be staggered by not less than one lap length
or 3 ft.
Reinforcement splices should confirm to ACI 318
Chapter 12 of ACI 318 for determining splice lengths.
The length depends on the class of splice, clear
cover, clear distance between adjacent bars, and the
size of the bar, concrete used, bar coating etc.
CRACK CONTROL
Crack widths must be minimized in tank walls to
prevent leakage and corrosion of reinforcement
A criterion for flexural crack width is provided in ACI
318. This is based on the Gergely-Lutz equation
z=fs(dcA)1/3
Where z = quantity limiting distribution of flexural re-
bar
dc = concrete cover measured from extreme tension
fiber to center of bar located closest.
A = effective tension area of concrete surrounding
the flexural tension reinforcement having the same
centroid as the reinforcement, divided by the number
of bars.
CRACK CONTROL
In ACI 350, the cover is taken equal to 2.0 in. for any
cover greater than 2.0 in.
Rearranging the equation and solving for the
maximum bar spacing give: max spacing = z3/(2 dc2
fs3)
Using the limiting value of z given by ACI 350, the
maximum bar spacing can be computed
For ACI 350, z has a limiting value of 115 k/in.
For severe environmental exposures, z = 95 k/in.
CIRCULAR TANK ANALYSIS
Analysis a circular water tank of the following given
data.
Height = H = 20 ft.
Diameter of inside = D = 54 ft.
Weight of liquid = w = 62.5 lb/ft3
Shrinkage coefficient = C = 0.0003
Elasticity of steel = Es = 29 x 106 psi
Ratio of Es/Ec = n = 8
Concrete compressive strength = f’c = 4000 psi
Yield strength of reinforcement = fy = 60,000 psi
CIRCULAR TANK ANALYSIS
It is difficult to predict the behavior of the subgrade
and its effect upon restraint at the base. But it is
more reasonable to assume that the base is hinged
rather than fixed, which results in more
conservative design.
For a wall with a hinged base and free top, the
coefficients to determine the ring tension, moments,
and shears in the tank wall are shown in Tables A-5,
A-7, and A-12 of the Appendix
Each of these tables, presents the results as
functions of H2/Dt, which is a parameter.
The thickness “t” cannot be calculated till the ring
tension T is calculated.
Assume, thickness = t = 10 in.
Therefore, H2/Dt = (202)/(54 x 10/12) = 8.89 (approx.
Table A-5 showing the ring tension values
Table A-7, A-12 showing the moment and
shear
CIRCULAR TANK ANALYSIS
In these tables, 0.0 H corresponds to the top of the
tank, and 1.0 H corresponds to the bottom of the
tank.
The ring tension per foot of height is computed by
multiplying wu HR by the coefficients in Table A-5 for
the values of H2/Dt=9.0
wu for the case of ring tension is computed as:
wu = sanitary coefficient for hoop tension / direct
tension) x (1.7 x Lateral Forces)
wu = 1.65 x (1.7 x 62.5) = 175.3 lb/ft 3
Therefore, wu HR = 175.3 x 20 x 54/2 = 94, 662 lb/ft
The value of wu HR corresponds to the behavior
where the base is free to slide. Since, it cannot do
that, the value of wu HR must be multiplied by
CIRCULAR TANK ANALYSIS
A plus sign indicates tension, so there is a slight
compression at the top, but it is very small.
The ring tension is zero at the base since it is
assumed that the base has no radial displacement
Figure compares the ring tension for tanks with free
sliding base, fixed base, and hinged base.
CIRCULAR TANK ANALYSIS
Which case is conservative? (Fixed or hinged base)
The amount of ring steel required is given by:
As wu HR = 175.3 x 20 x 54/2 = 94, 662 lb/ft
Therefore, maximum ring tension = 94662x0.173 = 67494
As = maximum ring tension / (0.9 Fy)
As = 67494/(0.9 * 60000) = 1.25 in2/ft.
Therefore at 0.7H use #6bars spaced at 8 in. on center to
center in two curtains.
Resulting As = 1.32in2/ft.
The reinforcement along the height of the wall can be
determined similarly, but it is better to have the same bar
and spacing.
CIRCULAR TANK ANALYSIS
The moments in vertical wall strips
that are considered 1 ft. wide are
computed by multiplying w uH3 by
the coefficients from table A-7.
The value of wu for flexure =
sanitary coefficient x (1.7 x lateral
forces)
Therefore, wu = 1.3 x 1.7 x 62.5 =
138.1 lb/ft3
Therefore wuH3 = 138.1 x 203 =
1,104,800 ft-lb/ft
(1104800x.005=5524 ft-lb)
The computed moments along the
height are shown in the Table.
The figure includes the moment
for both the hinged and fix
conditions
CIRCULAR TANK ANALYSIS
The actual restraint is somewhere in between fixed
and hinged, but probably closer to hinged.
For the exterior face, the hinged condition provides a
conservative although not wasteful design
Depending on the fixity of the base, reinforcing may be
required to resist moment on the interior face at the
lower portion of the wall.
The required reinforcement for the outside face of
the wall for a maximum moment of 5,524 ft-lb/ft. is:
Mu/( f’c bd2) = 0.0273 ………(where d = t – cover – dia
of bar)
From the standard design aid of Appendix A, take the
value of 0.0273 and obtain a value for from the
Table.
Obtain=0.0278
CIRCULAR TANK ANALYSIS
=0.167/(12 x 7.5) = 0.00189 ˂ ρ min
min = 200/Fy = 0.0033
Use #5 bars at the maximum allowable spacing of 12 in.
As = 0.31 in2 and = 0.0035
The shear capacity of a 10 in. wall with f’c=4000 psi is
Vc = 2 (f’c)0.5 bwd = 11,384 kips
Therefore, Vc = 0.75 x 11,284 = 8463 kips
The applied shear is given by multiplying wu H2 with the
coefficient from Table A-12. [0.096+0.087 /2 = 0.092]
The value of wu is determined with sanitary coefficient ie.
concrete shear Coef.. = 1.3 (assuming that no steel rft.
will be needed)
wuH2 = 1.3 x 1.7 x 62.5 x 202 =55250 kips
Applied shear = Vu = 0.092 x wuH2 = 5083 kips < Vc
