Assessment of Gas Leakage Rates through Damaged Reinforced-Concrete Walls
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 24, Issue 5
Abstract
The increased permeability that develops in damaged concrete walls translates directly to increased leakage of gases through the wall. For reinforced concrete structures housing dangerous gases, it is important to evaluate the level of containment the structure is providing subsequent to development of damage; therefore, knowledge of the leakage rate through the wall is of upmost importance. Using results from an experimental program described in a companion paper, the leakage of air through damaged reinforced concrete wall specimens subjected to both uniaxial and biaxial loading conditions is assessed. Results suggest applicable leakage rate formulas and highlight limitations when using such formulas for future predictive analyses.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. CMMI-0729357, where Drs. Jorn Larsen-Basse and Lawrence Bank were the program managers. Special thanks to Dr. Ting Wang, who assisted with the specimen design and construction; Ms. Maya Stoevhase, who assisted with the uniaxial specimen leakage rate analyses; and the UCSD Powell Laboratory staff, in particular, Dr. Chris Latham, Mr. Andy Gunthardt, and Mr. Bob Parks. The above support is greatly appreciated. Opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the sponsoring organization.
References
Buss, W. (1972). “Proof leakage rate of a concrete reactor building.” Concrete for nuclear reactors ACI special publication SP-34, Vol. III, American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, MI, 1291–1320.
Girrens, S. P., and Farrar, C. R. (1991). “Experimental assessment of air permeability in a concrete shear wall subjected to simulated seismic loading.” Rep. LA-12124-MS, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM.
Greiner, U., and Ramm, W. (1995). “Air leakage characteristics in cracked concrete.” Nucl. Eng. Des., 156(1–2), 167–172.NEDEAU
Hamilton, C. H., Hutchinson, T. C., Pardoen, G. C., Salmon, M. W., and Wang, T. (2004). “Gas and aerosol leakage rate through reinforced concrete shear walls: Experimental study.” Proc., 13th World Conf. on Earthquake Engineering, Vancouver, Canada.
Hutchinson, T. C., and Soppe, T. (2012). “Experimentally measured permeability of uncracked and cracked concrete components.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng.JMCEE7, 24(5), 548–559.
Mayrhofer, C., Kornerk, W., and Brugger, W. (1988). “Gas impermeability of reinforced concrete slabs supported on four sides: Part 2.” Rep. FTD-ID(RS) T-0085-88, Foreign Technology Division/Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, OH.
Nagano, T. K., Kowada, A., Matumura, T., Inada, Y., and Yajima, K. (1989). “Experimental study of leakage through residual shear cracks on R/C walls.” Proc., SMiRT-10, Q, International Association for Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology, Raleigh, NC, 139–144.
Okamoto, K., Kayakawa, S., and Kamimura, R. (1995). “Experimental study of air leakage from cracks in reinforced concrete walls.” Nucl. Eng. Des., 156(1–2), 159–165.NEDEAU
Pihlajavaara, S. E. (1991). “Long-term gas permeability properties of concrete in wet, repository conditions.” Nucl. Eng. Des., 129(1), 41–48.NEDEAU
Riva, P. B., Brua, L., Contri, P., and Imperato, L. (1999). “Prediction of air and steam leak rate through cracked reinforced concrete panels.” Nucl. Eng. Des., 192(1), 13–30.NEDEAU
Rizkalla, S. H., Lau, B. L., and Simmonds, S. H. (1984). “Air leakage characteristics in reinforced concrete.” J. Struct. Eng., 110(5), 1149–1162JSENDH.
Soppe, T., and Hutchinson, T. C. (2009). “Experimental damage-transport correlations for biaxially-loaded reinforced concrete walls.” Structural Systems Research Project (SSRP) Rep. No. 09-07, Univ. of California, San Diego.
Soppe, T., Stoevhase, M., and Hutchinson, T. C. (2008). “Experimental damage-transport correlations for uniaxially-loaded reinforced concrete walls.” Structural Systems Research Project (SSRP) Rep. No. 08-07, Univ. of California, San Diego.
Suzuki, T., Takiguchi, K., and Hotta, H. (1992). “Leakage of gas through cracked concrete cracks.” Nucl. Eng. Des., 133(1), 121–130.NEDEAU
Suzuki, T., Takiguchi, K., Hotta, H., Kojima, N., Fukuhara, M., and Kimura, K. (1989). “Experimental study on the leakage of gas through cracked concrete walls.” Proc., SMiRT-10, Q, International Association for Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology, Raleigh, NC, 145–150.
Tinkler, J., Del Frate, R., and Rizkalla, S. H. (1987). “The prediction of air leakage rate through cracks in pressurized reinforced concrete containment vessels.” Proc., SMiRT-8, J., International Association for Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology, Raleigh, NC, 25–30.
Wang, T. (2008). “Gas leakage rate through low aspect ratio concrete shearwalls.” Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of California, Irvine, CA.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 24 • Issue 5 • May 2012
Pages: 560 - 567
Copyright
© 2012. American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 6, 2011
Accepted: Oct 27, 2011
Published online: Nov 3, 2011
Published in print: May 1, 2012
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.