Usage of

WATER as a

STRUCTURAL MATERIAL
O. P. Chameera Randil
University of Moratuwa
ICE Membership no: 75284416
Date of Submission: 15th March 2016

Abstract
We are living in a stage of evolution where there is very fast and competitive construction and
rehabilitation of structures is done, while a lot of carbon content is left because of the vast usage of
concrete. Usage of concrete induces the expenditure of valuable natural resources such as limestone,
and sand, which has led to many problems (mostly ecological) today. So it is good to make some effort
to reduce the amount of concrete used for construction. So in this essay, an alternative is suggested
to concrete which is water. Using water in a well confined and sealed conditions inside the structures
will be an answer to the above stated problem. Here it is expected to integrate water in structural
members, where it could bear and transfer tension and compression. From this not only the amount
of concrete is reduced but also the construction costs, design self-weights are also reduced. However
this is still a concept, where the design techniques has to be properly decided and implemented.

Statement of the Problem

Irrespective
of
the
geographical locations all
over
the
world,
constructions are carried
out to fulfill many needs
of the mankind. Same
situation
could
be
adopted for Sri Lanka.
For most of these
constructions, concrete
is used as a structural
material. When concrete
is considered, depending
on the mix proportions,
various amounts of cement, sand and metal will be used. Even though a big amount of concrete is
used, most of it is used to maintain the shape, while a lesser amount is only used for the load transfer
purposes: Take a concrete beam for an instance. And by the usage of concrete, we are leaving a quite
big amount of carbon footprint which is a situation that has to be reduced as a deed of people living
in the 21st century.

Proposed Solution
Since using concrete leads to many ecological dilemmas, it would be
good if the usage of concrete can be reduced. For this, as a concept, if
the concrete inside a simple structure is replaced by water, without air
voids, a pretty good amount of concrete could be reduced. By simple
structures, I have meant about the structures like beams and columns.
Water could take a tremendous amount of stress both in tension and
compression. It can function even better if the air is removed inside water.
By using water inside members, not only the carbon content is reduced but also
the self-weight of the structure itself could be reduced by a great amount as the
unit weight of concrete is about 2400 kg m-3 while that of water is 1000 kg m-3
only. It also reduces the cost by a grate amount as water filling process could be
predicted to cover under a relatively very small budget. However more
workmanship will be needed.
If water is used inside the structures, as it is pretty homogeneous and isotropic, it'll be very easy and
predictable to carry on stress calculations. Also water has a bulk modulus 1 around 2.2 109, which
increases with the pressure, which shows that water can bear high pressures.
Also there will be some special things to be considered with "water-integrated structures". They could
be listed as the design of the cover that is going to hold water, the method of sealing the core of the
structure where water is held, the method of ensuring that no air is in the structure. Also there is
another design consideration of water, which is under tremendous pressures, water can undergo
phase changes. So it has to be decided on the effects if such change is going to be appeared. Also the
number of connections supported by the structure will be limited.

As a further extension of the idea, maybe whole structures could be designed as water integrated
structures. The ideas may involve housing schemes which are constructed as cantilevers where the
house is located inside the cantilever while there are two water slots situated above and beneath the
1

*Bulk Modulus = =

where = Density & = Pressure

2

house to take care about tension and compression respectively. Also other long cantilevered
structures for bridges etc. may be designed.

Inspiration for Idea

The actual need remains to reduce the carbon content
we leave at a construction from the point of reducing
the concrete amount. Since its observed that the most
of the concrete used in structures is structurally
insignificant, an alternative substitution is thought
about. Water might not be the best fit for that, but there
could be even more efficient substitutions.
This idea was inspired by the structure and functions
inside trees. Water does a great work to keep the tree
straight in addition to the work done by the fibers and
other related cells to do so. Thats why the intended use
of this concept on more overly hanging structures are
stressed in the previous sections. The literature on this
subject wasn't found in the World Wide Web, so I think
this conceptual idea could be taken as an original idea.
However a patent search or any other relevant royalty
search was not done regarding this specific subject area.

References
1. everitts.co.nz, (2016), Re-usable Plastic Concrete Formwork [ONLINE]. Available at:
http://www.everitts.co.nz/projects/geotub-project-bw-thestrand-takapuna.php [Accessed
08 March 16].
2. Bulk modulus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2016. Bulk modulus - Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulk_modulus. [Accessed
08 March 2016].