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DESIGN OF OVERHEAD RCC RECTANGULAR WATER TANK BY USING WORKING

STRESS METHOD
Ashwini B T1, Chethan V R2, Bhavya D R3
1,2Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering AIT, Chickmagalur – 577102, India
3PG Student, Civil Engineering (Structural Engineering), , AIT, Chickmagalur – 577102, India.
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ABSTRACT- Water tanks are the storage containers for same as in the analysis of other sections, ie., st=140
storing water. Elevated water tanks are constructed in MPa for Mild steel and st=230 MPa for HYSD bars.
order to provide required head so that the water will flow
under the influence of gravity the construction practice of 2. Elevated Water Tank
water tanks is as old as civilized man. The water tanks
project have a great priority as it serves drinking water “A Water Storage structure which is constructed above
for huge population from major metropolitan cities to the the ground” Overhead water tanks of various shapes can
small population living in towns and villages. be used as service reservoirs, as a balancing tank in
water supply schemes and for replenishing the tanks for
Keywords: Optimization of Steel, Economic design, various purposes. Reinforced concrete water towers
Water Tank have distinct advantages as they are not affected by
climatic changes, are leak proof, provide greater rigidity
1. INTRODUCTION and are adoptable for all shapes.

Water tanks are storage containers of water; these tanks 1) Components of a water tower or tank elevated or
are usually storing water for human consumption. The overhead Water tank consist of:
need for water tanks is old as civilized man. Water tanks
provide for the storage of drinking water potable, a) Tank portion with
irrigation, agriculture, fire suppression, agricultural
farming and live stoke, chemical manufacturing, food - Roof and roof beams (if any)
preparation and many other applications. - Sidewalls
- Floor or bottom slab
The leakage is more with higher liquid head and it has - Floor beams, including circular girder
been observed that water head up to 15 m does not - Cylindrical portion
cause leakage problem. Use of high strength deformed
bars of grade Fe415 are recommended for the b) Staging portion, consisting of:
construction of liquid retaining structures. Crack width
of 0.1mm has been accepted as permissible value in - Columns
liquid retaining structures. Fractured strength of
- Bracings and
concrete is computed using the formula
- Foundations
cat= 0.27 fck for direct tension and cbt= 0.37 fck
for bending tensile strength. 2) Types of Overhead Water Tanks: This may be:

Allowable stresses in reinforcing steel are st= 115 MPa - Circular tanks
for Mild steel and st= 150 MPa for HYSD bars - Rectangular tanks
- Intze tanks
In order to minimize cracking due to shrinkage and - Circular tank with conical bottom
temperature, minimum reinforcement is recommended - Spherical tanks.
as:
i) For thickness 100 mm = 0.3 % 3) Types of staging:
ii) For thickness 450 mm = 0.2%
iii) For thickness between 100 mm to 450 mm = varies There are two types of support staging on which top part
linearly from 0.3% to 0.2% is stand:
- Hollow circular shaft
For concrete thickness 225 mm, two layers of - Brace column staging
reinforcement be placed, one near water face and other
away from water face. In case of concrete cross section
where the tension occurs on fibers away from the water
face, then permissible stresses for steel to be used are
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2. DESIGN ASPECTS OF THE OVER HEAD TANK 3. plus the frictional loss in the pipeline between over
head tank and the location of the highest elevation.
Number of over head tanks urban water systems should
have at least one elevated tank for each of the areas. Two
tanks (or a tank with two compartments) are desirable
to improve reliability and pump control during times
when one tank is out of service for inspection, cleaning,
painting, or other maintenance. The height of an elevated
tank determines the maximum water pressure available
in the part of the distribution system connected to the
tank. The town is divided into number of zones with
independent storage tanks to facilitate effective and
equitable water distribution.

2.1 Location of the over head tanks

The location of the over head tanks is of importance for

regulating the pressure in importance for regulating the
pressure in the water distribution system. The storage
tank is generally located at the highest point and as far as
possible at the centre of the distribution area. The
topography of a water distribution area is an important
consideration in system design and type of storage
facilities to be incorporated into a water supply system.
In some cases, ground level storage systems can be sited
at higher elevations (on hills), allowing for gravity
supply to all or portions of a distribution area or Fig. 2.1: Rectangular Water Tank resting on ground
pressure zone. Storage tanks at higher elevation can also shows reinforcement detailing ideas
take advantage of topographic features to reduce height
requirements of EOHT and provide wider pressure zone 3 Rectangular tank with fixed base resting on ground :
coverage. Rectangular tanks are used when the storage capacity is
small and circular tanks prove uneconomical for small
2.2 Elevation of the over head tank capacity. Rectangular tanks should be preferably square
in planfrom point of view of economy. It is also desirable
In order to maintain the minimum residual pressure in that longer side should not be greater than twice the
the distribution system, the elevation of the L.W.L of the smaller side.
storage reservoir should be fixed consistent with the Moments are caused in two directions of the wall ie.,
provision of economic sizes of pipes in the distribution both in horizontal as well as invertical direction. Exact
network. The LWL of the over tank is fixed considering analysis is difficult and such tanks are designed by
the following aspects. approximate methods. When the length of the wall is
more in comparison to its height, the moments will be
1. The minimum residual pressure to be maintained in mainly in the vertical direction, ie., the panel bends as
the distribution system, vertical cantilever. When the height is large in
2. The G.L at the farthest point in the distribution system comparison to its length, the moments will be in the
and its distance from the service reservoir, horizontal
3. The G.L at the highest elevation in the distribution direction and panel bends as a thin slab supported on
system other than the location of the over head tank; and edges. For intermediate condition bending takes place
4. The approximate loss of head due to friction over the both in horizontal and vertical direction.
distance to the farthest point from the over head tank.
In addition to the moments, the walls are also subjected
The LWL of the over head tank should be greatest of the to direct pull exerted by water pressure on some portion
following: of walls. The walls are designed both for direct tension
1. G.L at the farthest point plus minimum residual and bending moment.
pressure to be maintained plus the frictional loss in the
pipeline between over head tank and the farthest point;
or
2. G.L at the highest elevation in the distribution zone
plus minimum residual pressure

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in bending compression. To develop equation for

moment of resistance of singly reinforced beams, the
linear strain and stress diagram are shown in Fig. 3.2

Fig. 3.1: Pressure, BM diagram (with FBD) acting on

Rectangular Water Tank
Fig. 3.2 Singly Reinforced Section
3.1 coefficient for max Bending moments in
horizontal and vertical direction.

Maximum vertical moment = Mx wa3 ( for x/a = 1, y=0)

Maximum horizontal moment =My wa3 (for x/a = 0,
y=b/2)
Tension in short wall is computed as Ts=pL/2
Tension in long wall TL=pB/2
Horizontal steel is provided for net bending moment and
direct tensile force

4. Working Stress method:

In this method the concrete and steel are assumed to be Table 4.1 Design Constants
elastic. At the worst combination of working loads, the
stresses in materials are not exceeded beyond
permissible stresses. The permissible stresses are found
by using suitable factors of safety to material strengths.
The modular ratio ‘m’ of composite material ie., RCC is
defined as the ratio of modulus of elasticity of steel to
modulus of elasticity of concrete. But the code stipulate
the value of ‘m as

5. Conclusion

Water tanks are considered to be expensive, but they are

where bc is the permissible stress in concrete constructed to reach present and future population.

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 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 05 Issue: 06 | June-2018 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

They are considered to highly economical and safely [2] Thalapathy, Vijaisarathi.,Sudhakar and Sridharan,
store the portable water. Water can be distributed to Satheesh “Analysis and Economical Design of Water
number of houses, Industries and public places by means Tanks “IJISET - International Journal of Innovative
of a network of a distribution system. Thus water tanks Science, Engineering & Technology, Vol. 3 Issue 3, March
are considered to be supporting systems and useful for 2016.
the society. Rectangular tanks are used when the storage
capacity is small and circular tanks prove uneconomical [3] Reinforce concrete structures (Dr B.C PUNMIA).
for small capacity. Rectangular tanks should be
preferably square in plan from point of view of economy. [4] Dr. H. K. Sharma, v. P. Singh, satpalsharma,”Some
It is also desirable that longer side should not be greater Aspects of Computer Aided Design of Underground
than twice the smaller side. Water Tanks”,2nd IASME / WSEAS International
Conference on GEOLOGY and SEISMOLOGY (GES '08),
6. REFERENCES Cambridge, UK, February 23-25, 2008.

[1] Issar Kapadia, Nilesh Dholiya, Purav Patel and Prof. [5] IS: 3370 – 1965 “Code of practice for concrete
Nikunj patel “Parametric study of RCC staging (support structure for storage of liquids parts 1, part 2, part 4”,
structure) for overhead water tanks as per IS:3370”, BIS. New Delhi.
IJAERD, Volume 4, Issue 1, January -2017.
[6] IS:875-1987 “Code of Practice for Design Loads parts
3”, BIS. New Delhi

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