Experimental Study on External Loading Performance of Large Diameter Prestressed Concrete Cylinder Pipe

A prestressed concrete cylinder pipe (PCCP) is created with a complex composition of concrete core, welded steel cylinder, prestressed steel wire, protective mortar and anti-corrosion coating. Due to the economy and complexity of structural prototype tests, the ultimate loading test on PCCP is rarely conducted. In this paper, the three-edge bearing test was carried out on a 3.2 m diameter PCCP with embedded steel cylinder. The strains of concrete core, prestressed steel wire and protective mortar were monitored, and the distribution and width of the concrete cracks were recorded. The test results show that the cracking on the inside concrete at the crown zone occurred before those on the invert zone of the pipe. The prestressed steel wire postponed the tensile stress of out-side concrete at the springing line until subjected to the calculated cracking load (P-c). Due to the moment redistribution caused by the cracking on the inside of the concrete at the crown/invert, the protective mortar at the springing line was cracked at 1.2 P-c and exhibited visible cracking after 1.4 P-c. The prestressed steel wire reached the elastic and strength limit states of 1.4 P-c and 1.6 P-c, respectively. The PCCP designed by the limit state design method can resist the increased external loads after reaching the serviceability limit state. The final failure load of the test pipe is greater than 1.6 P-c, and there is sufficient safety in actual operation. Due to the fact that the damage to the concrete at the crown/invert zone may become a fuse of PCCP failure, the tensile stress of the inside concrete at the crown/invert zone of the PCCP should be accurately verified in the design process.

Automated summary

This paper focuses on the three-edge bearing test of a prestressed concrete cylinder pipe (PCCP) and investigates the crack distribution and strain behavior during loading. The results indicate that cracks occur earlier in the inside concrete than in the outside concrete of PCCP, and the prestressed steel wire postpones the tensile stress of the outside concrete. Due to moment redistribution caused by cracking, the protective mortar of the PCCP exhibits visible cracking after certain loads. The prestressed steel wire reaches elastic and strength limit states at 1.4 P-c and 1.6 P-c, respectively. The PCCP possesses sufficient safety with the final failure load greater than 1.6 P-c.