Structural Behavior of Prestressed Concrete Reactor Vessels

Results of 16 tests of small-scale prestressed concrete vessels are described. The vessels were designed to represent the end slab and a portion of the wall of a cylindrical prestressed concrete reactor pressure vessel with flat end slabs. The major variables in the tests were the end slab thickness and the magnitude of longitudinal and circumferential prestressing forces. The behavior and types of failure are analyzed. Two types of failure of the end slabs occurred. There were failures characterized first by radial cracking and ultimately by fracture of the circumferential prestressing. Failures also occurred which were initiated by inclined cracking in the slab and resulted in a plug with the shape of a truncated cone being pushed from the center of the slab. All except two of the vessels were pressurized with gas and the resulting failures were explosive in nature. Approximate methods are described for predicting both types of failure.