The Swimming Pool, as the name suggests, is a man-made pool that holds water for the family to swim in. Swimming pools can be made with a variety of different materials depending on the application and location. A roof-top swimming pool, for example, looks better when one of its sides is made with Reinforced Glass or fiber Glass. Container tank swimming pools are also pretty common these days. These are swimming pools in which an old container is made watertight and then converted into a swimming pool. This construction technique makes the construction and relocation of the swimming pool easier.
In all other cases where a swimming pool is usually made on ground level, Concrete is the most preferred material – thanks to its durability, straightforward construction techniques, lower cost, and easy availability. This kind of swimming pool lasts much longer than the other kids .
The Concrete Swimming Pool is the most popular choice for in-ground pools. The initial costs are soon paid back with the longer life of the swimming pool Also, unlike other kinds of pools, concrete pools are serviceable and therefore can be repaired and even enlarged afterward.
Concrete Swimming Pool Construction and Design
Concrete used in the construction of the swimming pools has to be reinforced, usually with Grade 60 Steel. Reinforcement is required as the concrete experiences bending stresses produced from water – and soil when constructed in-ground.
The greater the depth of water, the stronger the swimming pool walls need to be. A normal strength Concrete, M20 or higher grade would work fine for the swimming pool. Reinforcement and Concrete should be designed in detail prior to beginning construction of the swimming pool.
As it can be seen from the illustration of the masonry wall, greater strength is required at the bottom of the wall. The floor of the swimming pool, on the other hand, experiences the same vertical pressure at every point and therefore requires the same reinforcement in every part of it.
If constructed in-ground, as already mentioned, Reinforced Concrete doesn’t only have to bear loads of water but also the surrounding soil. The reinforced wall acts as a retaining wall, retaining the load of soil at two different levels. A load of water and soil counteract each other as loads of soil are distributed in the same manner as water.
However, the swimming pool should be designed in a manner that can resist the soil loads even when the pool is empty. An empty pool would lack the pressure from water that would help counteract the soil pressure.
Swimming Pool Design considerations
When designing a Swimming Pool that is only partially in-ground and extends above ground level, soil pressure is not considered for the part which is above the ground level. Only, water pressure is considered for that part of the design.
The design of such Reinforced Concrete walls is always based on standard regulations which define the minimum strength of Concrete and Steel which should be used for the construction – M20 Concrete and Grade 60 Steel with a minimum wall thickness of 6 inches are American Concrete Institute (ACI) Requirements for example.
The reinforcement can be steel or any other material such as CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer) or GFRP (Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer). These Polymer-based Reinforcement types usually have higher tensile strength and make Reinforced Concrete a relatively ductile material. They are usually more expensive than Steel but since these reinforcement types are stronger, a lower amount would be used.
Concrete Swimming Pool Construction
- Selection of Land and Design
This includes the architectural as well as structural design. The depth of the Pool affects the amount of steel and the thickness of the concrete wall. - Excavation of Earth
- Compaction of Soil
- Construction of Swimming Pool Base
A lean concrete base is provided before the actual construction of the floor. This should be done at a gradient so that the emptying of the swimming pool would be easier at later stages. - Steel Cage placement
- Pump and Filter System Placement
- Concreting – This can be done using the Shotcrete technique or formwork. Shotcrete eliminates the chances of gaps.
- Waterproofing of Concrete – This can be done using Tiles, Glass, Ceramic or Epoxy, or any other water-proofing method.
- Coping Construction.
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