Masonary Wall Design for water tank

[rollingstein]

Are there any good design resources on masonary wall design? Specifically, I was considering an above-ground, open-to-sky, rectangular tank storing approx. 25 m3 of water in it.

Is it possible / economical to build such a tank out of masonary alone or does an RCC construction become economical above a certain size? Is there a hybrid design possible with reinforced concrete columns with masonary wall sections spanning the area between vertical columns?

PS. Note that the final design will be done and approved by a certified civil engineer but I only wanted a preliminary design estimate at the moment for costing & initial design purposes.

 

[SteamKing]

Are there any good design resources on masonary wall design? Specifically, I was considering an above-ground, open-to-sky, rectangular tank storing approx. 25 m3 of water in it.

Is it possible / economical to build such a tank out of masonary alone or does an RCC construction become economical above a certain size? Is there a hybrid design possible with reinforced concrete columns with masonary wall sections spanning the area between vertical columns?

PS. Note that the final design will be done and approved by a certified civil engineer but I only wanted a preliminary design estimate at the moment for costing & initial design purposes.

Just eyeballing this project, with no civil engineering experience whatsoever, the construction of this tank is going to depend on the dimensions to a certain extent. The construction of a tank which measures 1m tall by 5 m wide by 5 m long is going to be somewhat different from a tank which is 1 m wide by 1 m long by 25 m tall.

Is this tank supposed to be free-standing, or will it be partially or completely buried in the earth?

 

[DEvens]

Hmmm... 1 m x 5 m x 5 m, open to air, full of water... Hmmmm...

Think. Think. Think. I've seen one of these someplace before. Hmm... But the memory seems to be clouded by a diving board and some lawn furniture.

 

[SteamKing]

Hmmm... 1 m x 5 m x 5 m, open to air, full of water... Hmmmm...

Think. Think. Think. I've seen one of these someplace before. Hmm... But the memory seems to be clouded by a diving board and some lawn furniture.

Even a lot of those "tanks" have reinforced construction ...

 

[rollingstein]

Is this tank supposed to be free-standing, or will it be partially or completely buried in the earth?

Both options are OK so long as a majority of the tank is above ground.

I was also considering a third option: Above ground with a tamped Earth bund all around it for support.

 

[rollingstein]

Even a lot of those "tanks" have reinforced construction ...

Exactly. The idea is to see if the reinforced concrete can be either eliminated or at least reduced to its use for columns alone.

Basically, just like a house can be built on load bearing columns with the floor structure transmitting their load to the columns is a similar design possible for a tank wall? Can a masonry span transmit its load to periodic columns?

 

[rollingstein]

The construction of a tank which measures 1m tall by 5 m wide by 5 m long is going to be somewhat different from a tank which is 1 m wide by 1 m long by 25 m tall.

You are right.

I'd prefer a somewhat long tank rather than a square one for this purpose.

Something like a 6 x 2 by 2.5 tall (To allow some free-board without spillage over the top the total volume could be 30 m2 with a 25 m2 of actual water)

 

[SteamKing]

Exactly. The idea is to see if the reinforced concrete can be either eliminated or at least reduced to its use for columns alone.

Basically, just like a house can be built on load bearing columns with the floor structure transmitting their load to the columns is a similar design possible for a tank wall? Can a masonry span transmit its load to periodic columns?

Like concrete, masonry is good in compression, not so good in tension. Due to the nature of the hydrostatic loading on the masonry walls, even if columns are used, you can expect bending to occur between the columns and tensile loadings in the stone on the outside.

From what I understand, most pools built below ground use some type of re-bar to prevent the sides from flexing.