Investigation Of Water Leakage Through Direct Tension Cracks In Reinforced Concrete Panels

In this study the leakage of pressurized water through direct tension cracks in reinforced concrete (RC) panels is investigated experimentally. The results of the experiment can contribute to the field from different aspects since not many experimental studies of this kind have been reported in the literature. In this experimental program, three RC panels are subjected to direct tension force in order to form a major crack. The leakage test is then performed on the cracked specimens and the leakage of water through the crack is measured for different crack widths. The collected data consists of reinforcement strains, crack widths and the leakage rate through the cracks. Related theoretical models are compared against the experiment results. These results indicate that the leakage of water through a crack depend on the pressure of the water, cube of the crack width and crack width gradient.