Self-healing and leakage performance of cracks in the wall of a reinforced concrete water tank

A reinforced concrete water tank is a typical functional liquid storage structure and cracks are the greatest threat to the liquid storage structure. Tanks are readily cracked due to seismic activity, thereby leading to the leakage of the stored liquid and a loss of function. In order to study the effect of cracks on liquid storage tanks, self-healing and leakage tests for bending cracks and through cracks in the walls of a reinforced concrete water tank were conducted. Material performance tests were also performed. The self-healing performance of bending cracks in a lentic environment and through cracks in a lotic environment were tested, thereby the self-healing width of bending micro-cracks in the lentic environment in the short term were determined. The through cracks had the capacity for self-healing in the lotic environment was found. The leakage characteristics of the bending cracks and through cracks were tested with the actual water head on the crack. The effects on liquid leakage of the width of bending cracks, the depth of the compression zone, and the acting head were determined. The relationships between the leakage rate and time with the height of the water head were analyzed. Based on the tests, the relationships between the crack characteristics and self-healing as well as the leakage were obtained. Thereby the references for water tank structure design and grading earthquake damage were provided.