Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Plastic–Concrete Waterproof Walls of an Underground Granary Subject to Combined Bending Moment and Water Pressure

To investigate the mechanical properties of plastic–concrete silo walls in practice, the mechanical properties and failure mechanism under the combined bending moment and water pressure were analyzed through the uniform loading test, water pressure test, and numerical analysis. The influence of the connecting plate spacing, radius, and the waterproof plate thickness on the water pressure-bearing capacity were analyzed. The test results show that the chemical adhesive force exists between the waterproof plate and concrete and can resist 20 kPa. The displacement and strain of the waterproof plate increases significantly with the increment in water pressure. When the water pressure reached 85 kPa, the specimen was damaged due to shear failure. The established numerical model was validated by the test results. The numerical analysis results show that the specimen failure mainly depends on the bolt strength when the thickness of the waterproof plate is greater than 14 mm or the radius of the connecting plate is greater than 60 mm. The relation between the design parameters and the water pressure-bearing capacity was proposed. Compared with the waterproof plate thickness, the connecting plate spacing and radius have greater influence on the water pressure-bearing capacity.

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