COMPARISON OF DESIGN METHODS OF WATER RETAINING STRUCTUERES USING THE PROVISONS OF INTERNATIONAL CODES

Abstract

Abstract: Durability and impermeability in a water-retaining structure are of prime importance if the structure is to fulfill its function over its design life. In addition, serviceability cracking tends to govern the design of water retaining structures. This research concentrates on load-induced cracking specifically that due to pure bending and to direct tension in water retaining structures. At present Sri-Lankan designers tend to use British standards in the design of water retaining structures. But today the countries in the world have adopted different codes with the belief that the code adopted will best fulfill the requirements in designing water retaining structures for their particular exposure. Even with the proper design using that selected code, a question arises about the acceptability of the design with regard to other international codes. Thus, Comparison of these international codes is of paramount importance. ACI 350M, AS 3735, BS 8007 and EN 1992-3 were the codes that were selected to do the comparison. Identifying the major contributors for cracking as flexure and direct tension load case according to the given procedure for each code to control cracking spreadsheets were developed. During the project several parameters were varied and by analyzing the obtained results, an effort was taken to evaluate the design approaches given in each code to control cracking.