Abstract
This study examines earthquake-induced sloshing effects on liquid storage tanks using computation fluid dynamics. To achieve this goal, this study selects an existing square steel tank tested by Seismic Simulation Test Center at Pusan National University as a case study. The model validation was firstly performed through the comparison of shaking table test data and simulated results for the water tank subjected to a harmonic excitation. For a realistic estimation of the wall pressure response of the water tank, three recorded earthquakes with similar peak ground acceleration are applied:1940 El Centro earthquake, 2016 Gyeongju earthquake, and 2017 Pohang earthquake. Wall pressures monitored during the dynamic analyses are examined and compared for different earthquake motions and monitoring points, using power spectrum density. Finally, the maximum dynamic pressure for three earthquakes is compared with the design pressure calculated from a seismic design code. Results indicated that the maximum pressure from the El Centro earthquake exceeds the design pressure although its peak ground acceleration is less than 0.4 g, which is the design acceleration. On the other hand, the maximum pressure due to two Korean earthquakes does not reach the design pressure. Thus, engineers should not consider only the peak ground acceleration when determining the design pressure of water tanks.