Design and Performance of Reinforced Concrete Water Chlorination Tank Totally Reinforced with GFRP Bars: Case Study

Reinforced-concrete (RC) tanks in water and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) experience severe corrosion problems resulting from the application of specific treatment methods or chemicals. Municipalities around the world spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually to replace and repair corroded RC tanks. Designing these tanks requires attention not only to strength requirements, but also to durability and crack control. This paper presents the design procedures, construction details, leakage testing, and monitoring results for the world's first RC water chlorination tank totally reinforced with glass-fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars. The project is located in Thetford Mines, Quebec, Canada. The tank is considered one of the most important components in the city's new water treatment plant. The tank has a volume of over 2,500 m(3) and its walls are 4,650 mm high. The foundation, vertical walls, and cover slab were totally reinforced with GFRP bars. The tank was designed to satisfy the serviceability and strength criteria in CAN/CSA S806-12 (CSA 2012), ACI 440.1R-06 (ACI 2006), and ACI 350/350R-06. The tank is fully instrumented at critical locations with fiber-optic sensors to collect strain data. Site inspection showed that the tank performed very well and was able to withstand applied loads without problems or leaking during the leakage test and after eight months under the service condition. (C) 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.