Failure of Thick-Walled Concrete Spheres Subjected to Hydrostatic Loading

摘要

Two modes of failure for hollow concrete spheres subjected to hydrostatic pressure loadings are discussed, and the experimental results are presented. The first mode of failure was crack development in the plane of the concrete wall, and the second mode was implosion. From experiments using 16-inch-OD spheres, the difference between the pressures at failure for the two modes ranged from 0 to 50%. Expressions to predict the pressures at initiation of in-plane cracking of the concrete wall and the pressures at implosion are presented. (Author)