Mechanical behaviour of double lining with outer segmental lining and inner fibre reinforced concrete lining under internal water pressure

Abstract

Double lining with outer segmental lining and inner reinforced concrete lining is extensively used for water conveyance tunnel with internal water pressure. In order to improve the performance of the double lining, the steel rebar and fibre reinforced concrete (R/FRC) is designed for inner lining to enhance the tensile strength of reinforced concrete (RC). Full-scale tests were conducted to compare the mechanical behaviour of double lining with inner RC and R/FRC linings. The test results showed that both types of lining failed in four stages: elastic stage, inner lining cracking stage, crack stabilization and segmental joint damage stage, and failure stage. The cracks firstly occurred in the inner lining near the segmental joints and then propagated to the whole inner lining ring. Finally, the crack width and segmental joint opening successively exceeded the thresholds, and the double lining failed until the breaking of segmental joints. Compared with inner RC lining, R/FRC lining had better performance in terms of the initial cracking load, cracking-control ability, post-cracking stiffness, service limit capacity of inner lining and waterproof capacity of segmental lining. The improvement ratios were 36.3%, 50.3%, 46.3%, 37.2% and 31.1%, respectively. The influences of fibre volume fraction, fibre aspect ratio, and reinforcement ratio of steel rebar on the mechanical performance of R/FRC lining were also investigated based on a previously proposed analytical model. The parametric analysis demonstrated that higher fibre volume fraction and fibre aspect ratio can result in more significant increase of mechanical performance of R/FRC lining. The steel fibres were found to have more significant effects on the post-cracking behaviour of the lining than same amounts of reinforcing bars. Finally, an optimized function was proposed to fulfil a balance of lining performance and economy. The experimental and analytical results indicated that R/FRC lining can substitute RC lining and perform higher mechanical performance in water conveyance tunnels.