See PIPE NESTE CONCHETE PISS iATiGN CONGCEETE RIPE ATION CONCHETE PIPE (AVION CONCRETE PIPE ATION CONCAETE PIPE ATION CONCHETE RIFE american concrete pipe association & 8320 old courthouse road A vienna, virginia 22180 EFFECTS OF CRACKS IN REINFORCED CONCRETE SANITARY SEWER PIPE diameter reinforced concrete pipe with a 2-inch cover over the inner cage reinforcing to provide sac- rificial concrete. Aiter installation, inspection revealed a longitudinal hairline crack had developed at the inside crown in both size pipe. The ultimate strength of rein- uted to reinforcement corrosion. forced concrete pipe is deter- Regardless of such information, mined by application of @ factor the attitude of some construction of salety on the 0.07-inch crack inspectors can be summed up by design strength. This safety factor the statement, “A concrete pipe ranges between 7.5 for loads up to with a hairline crack has failed 2000 Ogg and 1.25 for loads and should be rejected.” This at- greater than 3000 Dpgy . Many titude is usually justified by a STUDY OBJECTIVES tests of concrete pipe have proven concern for structural integrity the conservatism of this safety fac- This CP Info article shows that tor and, in fact, design strengths such concerns have little basis in are generaily exceeded. Field sur- fact, as indicated by the results of veys have still (0 produce a single tests of reinforced concrete pipe sewer project exhibiting any struc- installed for a Texas Brazos River tural distress which can be attrib- Authority sanitary sewer project © Determine the depth of cracks. * Develop load-strain and load- deflection information during three-edge-bearing tests of 2 representative pipe section up to the formation of both hairline and 0.01-inch cracks. ican * Study the effect of an acid 0 hairline cracks indicate the ‘environment on the concrete failure of reinforced concrete and reinforcement exposed pipe? What is the effect of a waste by cracks. water environment which may be Evaluate autogenous healing conducive to the development of of cracks. hydrogen sulfide and possibly sul- furic sci? When these questions SAMPLING were raised on a particular proj- Cores, centered on the hairline ect, Texas Concrete Works au- crack, were cut from the 30-inch thorized Trinity Engineering Test- diameter pipe in the field, One Based on the report “Efiects of ing Corporation to study the con- section of 42-inch diameter pipe Cracking in Reinforced Concrete ditions and develop data for a was selected at random from Pipe for Sewers” by Dalton £. complete evaluation. stock remaining in the plant yard Hamilton, PE, Trinity Engineering and tested in three-edge-bearing Testing Corporation, 3601 Manor PROJECT DESCRIPTION Cores were also taken from this Road, Austin, Texas, authorized by _A sanitary sewer line construct- pipe, centered on cracks pro- Texas Concrete Works, March, ed for the Brazos River Authority duced during load tests and from 1971. contained both 30- and 42-inch uncracked areas.TESTS Samples of the cores containing cracks were prepared for testing by sawing along lines parallel to the crack and approximately one inch on each side of the crack After polishing the saw-cut faces, 2 coat of epoxy resin was applied to all cut surfaces and the inside and outside surfaces were left un- coated. The cut surfaces were coated to seal the surfaces which are not exposed in their normal position as part of the pipe. Figure 7 illustrates the method of prepa- ration of the test specimens. ‘These specimens, additional cores and pipe sections were sub- jected to the following tests: # A section of the 42-inch pipe was instrumented with strain gages and loaded in a three- edge-bearing test until hairline ‘cracks were observed. Alter removal of cores, the 42- inch pipe was rotated 45 de- grees, and replaced in the three- edge-bearing test stand and foaded until 2 0.01-inch crack was produced. Deformations were measured with a dial micrometer. Figure 2 shows the arrangement of strain gages and dial micrometer, * Cores from uncracked areas of the 42-inch pipe were utilized for compressive strength tests of the concrete, * The depth of the cracks in four cores, two each from the 30- and 42-inch pipe, were meas- ured by ultrasonic methods prior to, during and after com- pletion of other tests. © One core, No. 18, was sub- merged in water to determine the probability of autogenous healing of the cracked concrete. + The remaining three cores, one from the 30-inch pipe and two from the 42-inch pipe, were mounted in a chamber and ex: posed to water vanor for two ‘weeks and to the vapor from a 5 percent sulfuric acid solution fora period of five and one-half months. * After completion of tests, screp~ ings from the inside and outside surfaces of the three cores sub- jected to acid vapor were chem- ically analyzed ‘+ Upon completion of all tests, the three cores were split along. the crack and the inside crack surfaces and the reinforcing steel visually inspected. Scrap- ings from the reinforcing steel were also chemically analyzed. Sine ‘TEST RESULTS * The average compressive strength of the concrete utilized in the manufacture of the pipe was found to be 4,940 psi, * Figure 3 shows the initial depth of the cracks in the four core specimens before testing, as Nios ton ft => measured on March 24, 1971, iene and the reduction in crack FIGURE 1. CRACKED CORE depth due to autogenous heal- ‘TEST SPECIMEN. ing, For sample No. 18, which was submerged in water, the crack depth was measured twice, first after one month and again after completion of the test. The crack depths of the other three specimens exposed to acid vapor were measured after six months. FIGURE 2. TEST STAND AND PIPE INSTRUMENTATION.TABLE 1, CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF CRYSTALS FORMED ON ACID EXPOSED SPECIMEN. Sample No.3 30". Calcium, % by wt. 23.0 Sulfate, % by wt. 48.7 Iron, % by wt. 05 Magnesium, % by wt. - Soluble Silica, % by wt. 15 insoluble Silica, % by wt. 0.1 Sodium, % by wt. - Aluminum, % by wt. - Total % Accountable 137 Chloride, % by wt. s Carbonate, % by wt. - rbonate, % by wt. - Hairline Crack 42" RCP. 20.2 48.4 1.2 07 07 0.1 0.8 0.4 72.2 (7) Percent present in non-silica portion of residue Sampled on October 7, 1971 0.01 Inch Wet Crack Sand 42" RCP. Exposure 22.0 0.6 (20.7)* 52.8 1.4 (48,7)* 04 0.1( 3.9)" 04 0.1( 1.3)" 0.2 0.1( 0.1)" 01 97.1(—— )* 0s 0.1 ( 0.2)* 04 0.1( 0.7)" 76.7 —99,2(75.5) 0.05 - None. - 3.67 - oseeerl | - N cea Grgk Dat ar071 -— PLES SOR FIGURE 3, CRACK DEPTHS. Ground Concrete Reference 256 04 18 15 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.5 30.0 0.05 4.46 24.85 * The chemical analyses of the crystals formed on the exposed surfaces of the three specimens subjected to an acid vapor are given in Table 7. There was no indication of acid attack on the inside surfaces of the cracks. * Reinforcing steel in the three specimens subjected to acid vapor exhibited no detrimental effect either by visual inspec- tion or by chemical analysis, as indicated in Table 2 TABLE 2, CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF SCRAPINGS OF ‘THE REINFORCING STEEL. ANALYSIS Gale, 96 by we Sulfate, by we. Soluble Slice, % by wt tron Insoluble Material Sampled on November 19, RESULTS 226 10 os 19 2a7 1971