Concrete tank failure as the result of implementing wrong boundary conditions for wall support—case study

Abstract

Damage to large reinforced concrete structures is rarely due to design errors. Sometimes, however, a small error can lead to major damage and costly repairs. The article describes the damage, the results of non-destructive and destructive tests, the results of numerical calculations, and the method of repairing a reinforced concrete tank in a sewage treatment plant. The failure was caused by applying the wrong boundary conditions to the reinforced concrete wall support inside an existing biological reactor. During leak testing, one of the new walls cracked and was displaced, which resulted in the tank leaking. An inspection of wall damage and displacement was carried out on termination of the leak testing and while the tank was draining. The causes of the failure were determined based on the inventory information and numerical simulations. Both non-destructive tests of reinforcement and concrete and destructive tests of concrete were carried out. The concrete class of the foundation slab was determined based on a compression test of sample cores obtained from drilling. The aim of the non-destructive tests was to indicate the location and diameter of reinforcement in the damaged wall using electromagnetic and radar methods, as well as the location of internal defects using ultrasonic and radar methods. It was found out that the failure was a result of an incorrect determination of the anchoring length of the reinforcement. Based on the analysis, a plan to repair the damaged wall was formulated and then successfully implemented. In the article the authors proposed the IVD (identification-verification-design) scheme to make the design easier in similar cases.