RECTANGULAR TANK23S

We would like to offer our thanks and appreciation to All Doctors in

Department of Civil Engineering And our great Thanks to our
Supervisor:
Dr / ZAID THABET.
Who helped us in understanding , preparing our seminar in the
suitable form and thanks him for his constant help for the advices to
overcome all the problems and the difficulties we faced it in our
seminar .

Kaid ahmed ali kaid

 ‫ قائد الحبيشي‬.‫م‬ RECTANGULAR TANKS

DESIGN OF REINFORCED CONCRETE RECTANGULAR

WATER TANKS.

1.INTRODUCTION.
1.1 General:
A rectangular water tanks can be built either below or above the ground level. They are
used for small capacities and sometimes are adopted just to avoid the excessive
expenditure on curved shuttering required for circular tanks.
For design of such types of water tanks, One of main consideration besides strength is that
they should be leak proof or free from any cracks.
It has to be ensured in their design that the concrete dose not crack on the water face.
The concrete used for such structures should be richer in cement and very well compacted,
so that the tensile strength is high and the porosity low.
The walls of such tanks are subjected to bending moment primarily and their design
is based on the condition that concrete is not permitted to crack on the water face.

1.2 Design Methods for Rectangular Water Tanks:

Theoretically, both elastic and limit state methods can be used in the design of such types
of structure. The main aim of the design is to satisfy separately the following requirements
under ultimate strength and serviceability conditions:
(1) nder Ultimate limit state conditions, the bending, shear strength, bond, anchorage
etc…should be safe when calculated by the usual limit state theory of concrete

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structure.
(2) Under serviceability limit state (working load)
The width of cracks should be within the limits as specified in BS 5337 for water
retaining structures.
The maximum width of cracks allowed in such types of structure is 0.2 mm.
It is necessary that the reinforced concrete member for any liquid retaining structure
should be impervious. For this purpose, the following two conditions also must be
satisfied:.
1) The concrete used must be of uniform well graded mix of low water cement ratio
and it should be fully compacted and free from defects such as segregation and honey
combing.
2) The concrete used must be free from cracks.
Separately the following requirements should be safe when calculated by under
ultimate strength and serviceability condition:

1.3 Precautions Before Construction the Underground Water Tanks:

Where the floor of a reservoir or tank is founded directly on the ground, care should
be taken in the excavation work to adhere strictly to the design depth and dimensions.
Where excavation exceed these dimensions the excess should be filled back with
weak concrete, and not with spoil Materials from the excavation, otherwise the floor is
likely to settle and crack..

1.4 Design Requirement For The Under Ground Water Tanks.

Under ground water tanks and reservoirs should be designed for:

a) Maximum earth pressure on the outside of the walls when the tank is empty.
b) Maximum Water Pressure on the inner sides of the walls when the tank is full of

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water, because in soil materials, particularly clays, under condition of drought, the
soil will shrink away from the structure leaving an appreciable gap, then it is must
to design the water tank for the second case mentioned above (3).

1.5 CRACKS IN REINFORCED CONCRETE:

Reinforced concrete may develop various types of cracks.

The cracks are generally of the following types:
1) Very fine well distributed cracks in the tension zone of a concrete member.
2) Excessive cracks in the tension zone of a concrete member
caused by overloading it.
3) Cracks caused by expansion and contraction of restrained
members.
4) Cracks caused by differential expansion in thick member due to
the heat of hydration.
5) Cracks caused by shrinkage of concrete.
6) Cracks caused by settlement of a structure.

TREATMENT OF CRACK KINDS:

1) Avoiding Normal Tensile Cracks.
The very fine cracks which occur in the tension zone of a member designed by the
normal methods must be avoided in impervious reinforced concrete by designing it in
two ways:.
a) By designing against cracking having regard to the tensile strength of concrete.
b) By designing for structural strength ignoring the tensile strength of concrete.

It is worthwhile to note the following points concerning this aspect of design:

1) The safety factor against cracking is less than the safety factor required for

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structural safety.
2) Since the safety factor in the design against cracking is relatively small, the
possibility of tensile cracks occurring must be envisaged.

Hence to restrict the width and depth of such potential cracks a low permissible
tensile stress in steel is adopted in the structural design.

In spite of this general rule, these are many instances where designers design member
for structural strength alone when the thickness is 250 mm or more and if the liquid
retained is in contact with the compression face only.
In addition to these steps taken to prevent tensile cracks the creep of concrete may
turn out to be a practical advantage to prevent cracking by applying the working load
slowly. This is often possible in the case of a tank or reservoir by slow filling.

2) Avoidance Of Other Cracks.

Cracks caused due to expansion and contraction due to shrinkage can be avoided by
the proper use of movement joints in reinforced concrete.
Cracks caused by differential expansion in thick member due to the heat of hydration
are not likely to occur in members less than 450 mm thick.
Crack caused by settlement can be minimized or avoided by careful site selection
and good foundation design and construction.(1)

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2) ANALYSIS OF RECTANGULARWATER TANKS.

The vertical walls of a rectangular tank are subjected to Bending moment

in two directions.
The walls are liable to be bent as horizontal strips supported at the corners.
They are also liable to be bent as vertical cantilevers, a certain height from the base.
It is difficult to exactly estimate as to for what height there may be cantilevering
effect and what level onwards the strips span horizontally.

(1) Behavior of Rectangular Water Tank depend upon (L1/L2) ratio.

The center line dimensions of the tank be (L1 *L2).
Then,

If (L1/L2) is less than 2, the walls are designed as continuous horizontal slabs and
subjected to a water pressure of WH per unit area at depth H from the water surface.
The continuous strip of unit height that is 1 meter can be analyzed by moment
distribution or any other method. (1)

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(Analysis of Rectangular tank as given by Reynolds)

EXAMPLE:
A single Rectangular container, the internal dimension of which is 4m by 4.8 m, is
subject to a uniform horizontal pressure of 5 KN/m2 at a certain depth. Determine the
resulting maximum service moments and direct tensions at this depth, assuming that
the walls span horizontally.
SOLUTION
Assume that the walls are 150 mm thick; the effective spans are then 4.15m and
4.95m; hence ( L1/L2 = 4.95/4.15 = 1.2 ) (approx)
From table 185, K=9.7 (approx) Then
Binding moment at corners
=M1=qL12/k= 5*103 * 4.152/9.7= 8.880 KN.m per meter
Free binding moment on L1
= (1/8)*5*103 *4.152 = 10.760 KN.m per meter
Positive bending moment at mid span of L1
=10.760 – 8.880 =1.880 KN.m per meter
Free binding moment on L2
= (1/8)*5*103 *4.952 = 15.310 KN.m per meter
Positive bending moment at mid span of L2
=15.310 – 8.880 = 6.430 KN.m per meter

Direct tension in short side.

=qL1/2 = 0.5*5*103 *4 = 10 KN.m per met

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Direct tension in long side.
=qL2/2 = 0.5*5*103 *4.8 = 12 KN.m per meter (2)

If (L1/L2) =2 or grater than 2 the long walls are considered as vertical cantilevers,
cantilevering for the whole height from the base.
The short wall are considered as spanning between the long walls and with ends taken
as fixed.
Where:
L1 is the longer plan dimension.
L2 is the shorter plan dimension.

EXAMPLE.
Design the side walls of a rectangular tank of water dimension (6*3*3)
and adopt M20 concrete sketch the details of reinforcement in the walls of the tanks:.
fy=250 fcu=25
solution .
(L1/L2 =6/3 =2)
The long walls are considered as vertical cantilevers.
Design of side walls
A) Vertical Steel.
Bending moment (B.M) at corner = WL2/2
Water pressure above flour effect on the side wall as a bending moment as follows:

w= 10*h *1.4

w =10*3*1.4 = 42 KN/ m 2

R= ( w *h2) /2

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ِDepth below Pressure water M/bd2 Ast required spacing for

2 2
top (x/h) m () KN/ m mm 18 mm C/C

0.5 5.25 o.1037 112.93 2249.18

1 21 0.415 451.73 562.28
1.5 47.25 0.933 1016.36 250
2 84 1.66 1866.5 136.08
2.5 131.25 2.593 3095.5 82.05
3 189 3.733 4897.3 51

B. Mmax = R*(h/3) = 189 *3/3=189 KN/ m 2 . w

Effective depth:
2
Mur = 0.156fcub d d=225 mm.

Adopted Area 18 mm  @ 50 mm c/c …

B) Horizontal Steel.
The short wall are considered as spanning between the long walls and with ends
taken as fixed.
 w L2  w L2
12 12

 w L2
1) At support:
24
42 * 6 2
B.M = = 126 KN.m
12

Ast =2950 mm2 Spacing at @18 mm 245 mm c/c….

A) Mid span.

 w L2 9

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2
42 * 6
B.Mmax = = = 63 KN.m Ast =1367.7 mm2
24
Spacing at @ 18 mm 340 mm c/c

A) Design Bottom slab of containers of Rectangular tank.

Step (1)
Preliminary design. 3
M1
M1
dmin = (span effective)/(B.V*M.F.T)
= (6000)/(26*1.5) =153.85 mm
Assume h =154+18+34=206=210 mm
6
Effective depth design
=210-34=176 mm.
Step (2)
Computations of load.
M1 M1
P=10*3=30 kN/m^2
Ultimate pressure=30*1.4=42 kN/m^2
Step (3)
Design structure
q =10*3*1.4 = 42 kN/m^2
L1/L2 = 6/3 =2
From table (185) (K=12)
1) B.M at corners on L1
M1 = qL1/K
= 42*36/12 =126 KN.m /m.

Free B.M on L1= qL / 8 =42*36/8 = 189 KN.m /m.

Positive bending moment at mid span L1
= 189-126 = 63 KN.m/m
B. M at corner on L2 at the same of B.M at corner on L1
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due to Rectangular tank.

Step (4)
Required Ast
- B. M at all corners = 126 kN m/m of width.
- B. M at all mid spans = 63 kN m/m
- Breadth of steel direct =1000 mm.
- Effective depth of section =176 mm.
1- At the corners.
M 126 * 10 6
= = 4.06766
bd 2 1000 * 176 2
Ast required = 2924 mm2
Spacing = (1000* 254)/ (2924) = 86.9 mm
Adopted 18mm @ 80 mm c/c

2-At the mid span

M / b d^2 = 43.75*10 6/1000*1662= 1.59
Ast required = 1313 mm2, spacing = 1000* 254 /1313 = 193.5 mm

Adopted 18 mm Spacing @ 190 mm c/c(2)

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3) Design of Rectangular Water Tanks.

(3.1) Rectangular tank resting on ground:

EXAMPLE(3-1.1)

(Analysis of Rectangular tank as given by Reynolds)

Reynolds have proposed a method for analysis of rectangular tanks.

Spanning horizontally for a single span and multiple spans as show in the attached
table (183)

A single rectangular [square] container, the dimensions center to center of which are
(5*5) and depth 3m design the square container tanks
Solution:
A) Design Bottom slab of containers of square tank.
Step (1)
Preliminary design. 5
M1
dmin = (span effective)/(B.V*M.F.T) M1

= (5000)/(26*1.5) =128 mm
Assume h =128+18+34=180=200 mm
Effective depth design 5

=200-34=166 mm.

Step (2)
Computations of load. M1 M1

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P=10*3=30 kN/m2
Ultimate pressure=30*1.4=42 kN/m2

Step (3)
Design structure
q =10*3*1.4 = 24 kN/m2
L1/L2 = 500/500 =1
from table (185) (K=12)
1) B.M at corners on L1
M1 = qL1/K
= 42*25/12 =87.5 KN.m/m.
Free B.M on L1= qL / 8 =42*25/8 = 131.25 KN.m /m.
Positive bending moment at mid span L1
= 131.25-87.5 =43.75 KN.m/m
B. M at corner on L2 at the same of B.M at corner on L1
due to square tank.

Step (4)
Required Ast
- B. M at all corners =87.5kN m/m
- B. M at all mid spans =43.75kN m/m
- Breadth of steel direct =1000 mm.
- Effective depth of section =166 mm.
1- At the corners.
M / b d2= (87.5*106)/ (1000*1662)
Ast required = 2924 mm2
Spacing = (1000* 254)/ (2924) = 86.9 mm
Adopted 18mm @ 85 mm c/c

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2-At the mid span

M / b d2 = 43.75*106 /1000*166^2 = 1.59
Ast required = 1313 mm2, spacing = 1000* 254 /1313 = 193.5 mm
Adopted 18 mm Spacing @ 190 mm c/c.

B) Design of wall tanks.

Step (1)
Preliminary design.
dmin=3000/ (7*1.5) = 285.7 mm.
Assume h=350 mm.
Effective depth = 350-34=316 mm.
Step (2)
Computations of load about one meter width.
q=1.4*10*3=42 KN/m^2.
R=vw h2/2
M=Rh/3.
M= (10*33)/6=45 KN.m
M/bd2= (45*106)/ (1000*1662)= 1.633
Ast=1353.246 mm2
Adopted Area of vertical steel at face water tank.
18 mm  @ 180 mm c/c. (2)

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EXAMPLE (3-1.2)

Design the side of walls of a square R.C.C. Tank of water dimension (5*5*3) and
adopt M 20 concrete sketch the details of reinforcement in the walls of the tank
Solution
Design of side walls
A) Horizontal steel
Binding moment (B .M) at corner = WL2/12
Water pressure above flour effect on the side wall as a binding moment as follows:
W = 10*h *1.4
W =10*3*1.4 = 42 KN/m2
B. M = vw 42*52/12 =87.5 KN .M

Effective depth:
Mur = 0.156Fcubd2
D = 150 mm . adopter depth = 200 mm
Effective depth = 200 – 35 =165 mm.
MD =C*Z
MD = 0.446Fcu *b *0.9X (d- 0.45X).
X = 64 mm
Z = (d-0.45X) = 136.2 mm

Ast= M / (0.87fyz) = (87.5*106)/(0.87*250*136.2)=2954 mm.

Spacing =(254*1000)/2954 =80 mm

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ِDepth below top Pressure water Moment at corner Ast required spacing for
(x/h) m (vw) KN/m2 (vw L2)/12 KN.m mm2 18 mm C/C

0.5 7 14.58 492 510

1 14 29.17 985 250

1.5 21 43.75 1477 170

2 28 58.3 1968 125

2.5 35 73 2465 100

3 42 87.5 2954 80

Adopted Area 18 mm  @ 80 mm c/c ………

B) Vertical steel:
Cantilever moment M=(R*h)/3 = (vw h2/2) h/ (3).

Depth below (vwh3)/6 Ast required spacing for

2
top ( x/h) m KN.m mm 18 mm C/C

0.5 0.29 9.78 25971

1 2.3 77.69 3265
1.5 7.875 265.84 955
2 18.67 630 400
2.5 36.46 1230 205
3 63 2127 115

Adopting 18mm ,At the spacing 115 mm C/C Along of wall ……

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C) Distribution steel 12mm  ,At the spacing 230 mm C/C …. .

D) At mid span maximum moment =( PL2/16) .

Depth below Ast required spacing for

w M=(wl2/16)
top ( x/h) m mm2 18 mm C/C
0.5 7 11 372 680
1 14 21.875 379 340
1.5 21 32.8125 1108 225
2 28 43.75 1477 170
2.5 35 54.69 1816 165
3 42 65.625 2216 110

Adopting 18mm ,At the spacing 110 mm C/C Along of wall (4)

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(3.2) Rectangular tank resting Under the ground:

Design on R-C-C square tank .Internal center to center dimension the tank is to be
provide Underground structure. (5*5*3).
The soil weight = 20 KN\m2.
And the adopted concrete M 20.

Solution:.
1- Preliminary design
dmin = 3000/(7*1.5) = 285.7mm Assume 350mm
Effective depth = 350-39= 316mm.
(A) We will designing the side wall for force Pressure which effect vertically on this wall:
qw =1.4 * vw * 3
=1.4 *10 *3 =42KN\m2
R = (qw*H2)/2 M=R *(H/3)

ِDepth below R M.at corner Ast required spacing for

top ( x/h) m KN\m2 R*(H2) KN.m Mm2 18 mm C/C
0.5 5.25 .875 11.65 21166.7
1 21 7 101.99 2490.5
1.5 47.25 23.625 352.5 720.5
2 84 56 834.8 304.5
2.5 131.25 109.375 1668.8 152.2
3 189 189 3027.5 83.9

Adopting 18mm , At spacing 80mm C/C Along the wall.

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(B)
STEP (3): Computation load of soil
(Consider 1000 mm width)
1- If tank is empty, the side wall of tank will be designed to resist soil
pressure only.
q soil =1.4* vsoil*3
=1.4*20*3
=84 KN\m2
R = (84*32)/2
M =R*(H/3)

ِDepth below top R Moment at corner Ast required spacing for

( x/h) m KN\m^2 R*(H/3) KN.m mm2 18 mm C/C
0.5 10.5 1.75 26.8 9475
1 42 14 214.5 1180
1.5 94.5 47.25 720.5 350
2 168 112 1720.5 145
2.5 262.5 218.75 3575.5 71
3 378 375 6934.5 35

Adopting 18mm , At the spacing 35mm C/C along the walls (2)

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Design surface crack width

Design of surface crack width of made span of wall assume the following
Fcu= 25 N/mm2.
bt= 1000 mm  ST = 2954 mm 2

acr = amin =35 mm Spacing = 80 mm

H = 200 mm Asc = 1313 mm 2
M =87.5 KN.m a \  d  165mm 2

Solution :

M d  x 
... 1 
Ec * I tr
25
Ec  5500 *
1.25
24596.74 N / mm 2

 e  200 *1000  8.13

24596.74

Find the depth of N. axis Using Elastic theory (working stress method )
From the Moment of the inertia of transformed section .
Tacke the moment @ N .axis
(b*x*x/2) +(m*Asc*(x-d\) = m*Ast *(d-x)
.. m =  e = Es
 8.13
Ec

X = 63.6 mm
Itr = Ix =  bx 3 
   (m * Asc * ( x  d \ ) 2  m * Ast * (d  x) 2
 3 

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Ix =262.83 mm^4

M ( d  x ) e
1 
.5 * E s I tr
65.6 * 8.13 * 165  63.6 
.5 * 200000 * 262.83 * E 6
 2.06 * E  9

from similar triangular

1\ hx

1 d x
hx  200  63.6 
1\ = 1 * = 2.06*10 9 * 
dx  165  63.6 
=2.77*10 9

m  
b * h  x  a \  x
\  
3 s Ast d  x 
1

1000200  63.6200  63.6

 2.77 *10 9 
3 * 200 *1000 * 2954165  63.6 
 1.035 *10 4

From the code recommended the following

Negative value of m indicates that the section is not cracked (2)

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REFRENCE:

1) Design of Reinforced Concrete Structure.

S.RAMAMRUTHAM
B.E (CIVIL), M.I.C.E., M.I.E (INDIA)
2) Reinforced Concrete Designer's Handbook.
(BS) TENTH EDITION
Charles E. Reynolds and James C. Steedman
Published by E&FN Spon, Taylor&Francis Group –II New Fetter Lane London .
3) Plain and Reinforced concrete Volume (I) 8th edition
JAI KRISHNA (London)
University of roorkee, roorkee Indian Institute of Technology.
4) Design of reinforced concrete structures.
N.Krishna Raju. Second edition.
CBS Publishers & Distributors Shahdra, Delhi‫ــــ‬110032 (India)

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