• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.153-168
• /
• 2016

Sloshing phenomenon is a complicated free surface flow problem that increases the dynamic pressure on the sidewalls and the bottom of the storage tanks. When the storage tanks are partially filled, it is essential to be able to evaluate the fluid dynamic loads on the tank's perimeter. In this paper, a numerical code was developed to determine the pressure distribution on the rectangular and trapezoidal storage tanks' perimeters due to liquid sloshing phenomenon. Assuming the fluid to be inviscid, the Laplace equation and the nonlinear free surface boundary conditions were solved using coupled boundary element - finite element method. The code performance for sloshing modeling was validated using Nakayama and Washizu's results. Finally, this code was used for partially filled rectangular and trapezoidal storage tanks and free surface displacement, pressure distribution and horizontal and vertical forces exerted on the tanks' perimeters due to liquid sloshing phenomenon were estimated and discussed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.65 no.5
• /
• pp.557-572
• /
• 2018

The academic research works about liquid storage tanks are reviewed for the purpose of providing valuable reference to the engineering practice on their aseismic design. A summary of the performance of tanks during past earthquakes is described in this paper. Next, the seismic response of tanks under unidirectional earthquake is reported, supplemented with the dynamic response under multidirectional motions. Then, researches on the influence of soil-structure interaction are brought out to help modify the seismic design approach of tanks in different areas with variable properties of soils. Afterwards, base isolation systems are reported to demonstrate their effectiveness for the earthquake-resistant design of liquid storage tanks. Further, researches about the liquid-structure interaction are reviewed with description of simplified models and numerical analytical methods, some of which consider the elastic effect of tank walls. Moreover, the liquid sloshing phenomenon on the hydrodynamic behaviors of tanks is presented by various algorithms including grid-based and meshfree method. And then the impact of baffles in changing the dynamic characteristics of the liquid-structure system is raised, which shows the energy dissipation by the vortex motion of liquid. In addition, uplifting effect is given to enhance the understanding on the capacity of unanchored tanks and some assessment of their development. At last, the concluding remarks and the aspects of extended research in the field of liquid storage tanks under seismic loads are provided, emphasizing the thermal stress analysis, the replaceable system for base isolation, the liquid-solid interaction and dynamic responses with stochastic excitations.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.2 no.4
• /
• pp.397-412
• /
• 2011

In this paper, the seismic response of elevated broad and slender liquid storage tanks isolated by elastomeric or sliding bearings was investigated. The accuracy of predictions of SAP2000 vs. 3D-BASIS-ME programs was examined. A comparative study of the performance of base isolated tanks when isolation bearings are placed at the top or at the bottom of the supporting tower structure was conducted. It was found that base isolation is quite effective in reducing the earthquake response of elevated liquid storage tanks in which high reductions of base shear and shaft displacement were achieved. Modeling the isolated tanks in SAP2000 was very successful in producing results that are nearly identical to those of program 3D-BASIS-ME. Placing the isolators at the top of the shaft in elevated tanks proved to be much better than placing them at the bottom.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2001.06d
• /
• pp.683-688
• /
• 2001

Cryogenic LNG(Liquefied Natural Gas) which is stored in the cylindrical storage tanks of $100,000m^{3}$ has very complex flow phenomena and the changes of thermal properties with exterior conditions and operation mdoes. These complex thermofluid behaviors are affected by the storage, exterior conditions of LNG, design specifications and heat transfer characteristics of tanks, Also, those have influence on the stable storage and supply of LNG in the storage tanks. Thus this study performed the analysis on the 2-D heat transfer of the tank with exterior conditions, on the Cool Down Process in order to cool down the LNG Storage Tank at the initial normal state, and on the Filling Process considered for incoming and rising of LNG. The analysis on the Mixing LNG Storage was studied too. At last, the visualized program on the complex thermofluidodynamic analysis was developed on the basis of the above analyses. The development of this program becomes to be used to the basic design of the commercial tanks as well as to assure technical skill of the analysis on the thermal stability of the stored LNG in the LNG Storage Tank.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
• /
• v.16 no.6
• /
• pp.48-54
• /
• 2012

Building above-ground membrane LNG storage tanks have been recently actively reviewed because they have advantages in ease of large capacity, environmental friendliness, and low possibility of gas leakage of the inner tank (slow increase of leakage speed). In this paper, the safety of membrane LNG storage tanks was ensured through comparative risk assessment of full-containment LNG storage tanks and membrane LNG storage tanks by using Fault Tree Analysis (FTA). Risk assessment results showed that both types of tanks have very similar level of risk except for the membrane storage tanks without additional safety equipments (early model).

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.22 no.7
• /
• pp.401-409
• /
• 2018

Performance-based seismic evaluation is usually done by considering simplified models for the liquid storage tanks therefore, it is important to validate those simplified models before conducting such evaluation. The purpose of this study is to compare the seismic response results of the FSI (fluid-structure interaction) model and the simplified models for the cylindrical liquid storage tanks and to verify the applicability of the simplified models for estimating failure probability. Seismic analyses were carried out for two types of storage tanks with different aspect ratios (H/D) of 0.45 and 0.86. FSI model represents detailed 3D fluid-structure interaction model and simplified models are modeled as cantilever mass-spring model, frame type mass-spring model and shell type mass-spring model, considering impulsive and convective components. Seismic analyses were performed with modal analysis followed by time history analysis. Analysis results from all the models were verified by comparing with the results calculated by the code and literature. The results from simplified models show good agreement with the ones from detailed FSI model and calculated results from code and literature, confirming that all three types of simplified models are very valid for conducting failure probability analysis of the cylindrical liquid storage tanks.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.35 no.6
• /
• pp.759-772
• /
• 2010

Seismic isolation is a well-known method to mitigate the earthquake effects on structures by increasing their fundamental natural periods at the expense of larger displacements in the structural system. In this paper, the seismic response of isolated and fixed base vertical, cylindrical, liquid storage tanks is investigated using a Finite Element Model (FEM), taking into account fluid-structure interaction effects. Three vertical, cylindrical tanks with different ratios of height to radius (H/R = 2.6, 1.0 and 0.3) are numerically analyzed and the results of response-history analysis, including base shear, overturning moment and free surface displacement are reported for isolated and non-isolated tanks. Isolated tanks equipped by lead rubber bearings isolators and the bearing are modeled by using a non-linear spring in FEM model. It is observed that the seismic isolation of liquid storage tanks is quite effective and the response of isolated tanks is significantly influenced by the system parameters such as their fundamental frequencies and the aspect ratio of the tanks. However, the base isolation does not significantly affect the surface wave height and even it can causes adverse effects on the free surface sloshing motion.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.62-67
• /
• 2015

In this paper, the consequence analysis has been evaluated for the damage effects of the LPG storage tanks when they are installed on the ground or underground. They should be performed to identify measures to reduce risks for the LPG storage tanks which are more widely used. In order to conduct a damage effect evaluation of the LPG storage tanks installed underground, FDS was used to simulate the LPG storage tanks installed and housed within a facility. The maximum pressure of the storage facilities for the LPG storage tanks has been calculated from the FDS, and it's results are used as an input variable for Phast which is a commercial software for evaluating the damage effects. Getting results from the consequence analysis and computational simulations(diffusion range of LFL and UFL, jet fire or explosions) were quantitatively presented for the damage effects.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.339-345
• /
• 2012

RMembrane LNG storage tanks have been recently investigated to replace full-containment LNG storage tanks because of safety and cost aspects. Quantitative Risk Analysis (QRA) and Finite Element Method (FEM) were used to evaluate safety of membrane LNG storage tanks. In this study, structural safety evaluation results via FEM analysis showed that both membrane type and full-containment type cryogenic LNG storage tanks with 140,000 $m^3$ capacity were equivalently safe in terms of strength safety and leakage safety of a storage tank system. Also, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) was used to improve the safety of membrane LNG storage tanks and membrane LNG tanks were modified by adding three safety equipments: impact absorber structure for the low part of the membrane, the secondary barrier to diminish the thermal stress of the corner part of the outer tank, and a pump catcher in case of falling of a pump. Consequently, the safety of the modified membrane LNG storage tanks were proved to be equivalent to that of full-containment LNG storage tanks.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.201-214
• /
• 2016

The outer tank of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage tank is a longitudinally and meridianally pre-stressed concrete (PSC) wall structure. Because of the current trend of constructing larger LNG storage tanks, the pre-stressing forces required to increase wall strength must be significantly increased. Because of the increase in tank sizes and pre-stressing forces, an extreme loading scenario such as a bomb blast or an airplane crash needs to be investigated. Therefore, in this study, the blast resistance performance of LNG storage tanks was analyzed by conducting a blast simulation to investigate the safety of larger LNG storage tanks. Test data validation for a blast simulation of reinforced concrete panels was performed using a specific FEM code, LS-DYNA, prior to a full-scale blast simulation of the outer tank of a 270,000-kL LNG storage tank. Another objective of this study was to evaluate the safety and serviceability of an LNG storage tank with respect to varying amounts of explosive charge. The results of this study can be used as basic data for the design and safety evaluation of PSC LNG storage tanks.