Behavior of Steel Bar Reinforced Concrete Spheres under Hydrostatic Loading.

摘要

Four reinforced and two unreinforced concrete spheres of 32.00-inch outside diameter (OD) and 2.71-inch wall thickness (t) were tested under hydrostatic loading to determine the effect of embedded steel reinforcement on structural behavior. Test results show that the reinforced spheres (0.44 or 1.10% steel by area) failed by implosion at values for the ratio of implosion pressure to concrete strength that were on the average 5% lower than for the unreinforced spheres of the same size. In addition, the reinforced spheres developed cracks in-the-plane-of-the-wall at the inner surface of the reinforcement cage prior to implosion. Implosion results for the unreinforced spheres are 10% lower than predicted by an empirical equation developed from previous tests of unreinforced 16-inch OD spheres. These results provide initial insight into the behavior of hydrostatically loaded steel bar reinforced concrete spheres and indicate that additional test data is required before definitive design guides can be developed.