STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING DIGEST
A review of the minimum reinforcement and
crack-width criteria for liquid retaining structures
Dr. M. N. Shariff
Assistant Professor
Indian Institute of Technology
Bombay
Mumbai, India
shariff@iitb.ac.in
Abstract
This paper discusses the changes in the recent
revision of IS 3370 (2) : 2021, design of liquid
storage structures, with respect to the serviceability
requirements. The code revision mandates the use
of limit state method for the design of liquid
retaining structures. The minimum reinforcement
provisions and crack width criteria required for
serviceability limit state for liquid retaining
structures provided in international codes are
compared. An anomaly is found in the crack width
formulae and this is demonstrated with the help of
an example. The crack width calculated using
codal expressions are compared with pertinent
experiments reported in the literature. It is found
that the current design provisions do not lead to a
conservative design and hence there is a need for
improvement in the design guidelines.
Keywords: Reinforcement; crack width; leakage;
durability; cover.
1. Introduction
Liquid retaining structures are often constructed
using reinforced concrete (RC) owing to the key
April - June, 2023 • 73
Dr. M. N. Shariff received his M.S. and Ph.D. from
Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He is a
member of ACI Committee 209, Creep and
Shrinkage in Concrete and T.G. 4.5. His research
interests include ageing infrastructure and long-
term performance, serviceability of critical
infrastructure and structural evaluation of 3D
reinforced concrete members.
advantage of being relatively impermeable and
durable. Apart from the structural integrity, safety
and durability, the serviceability criteria (crack
width) often controls the design of such structures.
The Indian code of practice for the design of liquid
retaining structures (IS 3370) [1] was recently
revised in 2021. One of the major changes in the
code is the removal of the traditional working
stress method of design. All liquid retaining
structures are now required to be designed based
on the limit state method, in line with other
international codes of practice.
Cracks in concrete structures can be classied as (i)
controllable cracks and (ii) non-controllable cracks.
The controllable cracks are due to the applied loads
and the indirect effects (such as volume changes in
hardened concrete due to shrinkage and
temperature), which can be determined using the
equilibrium conditions. The non-controllable
cracks are those which are not included in the
current design codes, such as freeze-thaw cracks,
corrosion, alkali-silica reaction etc [2]. The limiting
crack-widths are based on the criteria of aesthetics,
control of corrosion and water tightness [3]. The IS
code [1] prescribes three tightness classes.