• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제13권1호
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• pp.67-77
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• 2017

Oil storage tanks are vital life-line structures, suffered significant damages during past earthquakes. In this study, a numerical model for an unanchored vertical vaulted-type tank was established by ANSYS software, including the tank-liquid coupling, nonlinear uplift and slip effect between the tank bottom and foundation. Four actual earthquakes recorded at different soil sites were selected as input to study the dynamic characteristics of the tank by nonlinear time-history dynamic analysis, including the elephant-foot buckling, the liquid sloshing, the uplift and slip at the bottom. The results demonstrate that, obvious elephant-foot deformation and buckling failure occurred near the bottom of the tank wall under the seismic input of Class-I and Class-IV sites. The local buckling failure appeared at the location close to the elephant-foot because the axial compressive stress exceeded the allowable critical stress. Under the seismic input of Class-IV site, significant nonlinear uplift and slip occurred at the tank bottom. Large amplitude vertical sloshing with a long period occurred on the free surface of the liquid under the seismic wave record at Class-III site. The seismic properties of the storage tank were affected by site class and should be considered in the seismic design of large tanks. Effective measures should be taken to reduce the seismic response of storage tanks, and ensure the safety of tanks.

• 한국콘크리트학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국콘크리트학회 2004년도 춘계 학술발표회 제16권1호
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• pp.696-699
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• 2004

Generally, the time history analysis among seismic response analyses of a structure needs more times than static analysis. Therefore the mechanical model of a structure has been used as a simple lumped parameter model in time history analysis. For the most cases, the simple mechanical model shows the similar results to that of detailed finite element model. so it is reasonable to use the simple mode] in preliminary analysis. In seismic design of liquid storage tank, such as LNG storage tank, the lumped parameter mode] also is being used in preliminary analysis, however sometimes shows the differences to the results of detailed finite element model. Therefore in this study, the dynamic characteristics between lumped parameter model and detailed finite model is compared for the variables such as height/diameter of liquid-storage tank and thickness of wall, then the applicability of beam mode] to the seismic response analysis are evaluated for some liquid storage tanks.

• 한국지진공학회논문집
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• 제26권5호
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• pp.203-209
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• 2022

A simplified method for earthquake response analysis of a rectangular liquid storage tank is proposed with fluid-structure interaction considered. In order to simplify the complex three-dimensional structural behavior of a rectangular liquid storage tank, it is assumed that structural deformation does not occur in the plane parallel to the direction in which the earthquake ground motion is applied but in the plane perpendicular to the direction. The structural deformation is approximated by combining the natural modes of the simple beam and the cantilever beam. The hydrodynamic pressure, the structure's mass and stiffness, and the hydrodynamic pressure's added mass are derived by applying the Rayleigh-Ritz method. The natural frequency, structural deformation, pressure, effective mode mass, and effective mode height of the rectangular liquid storage tank are obtained. The structural displacement, hydrodynamic pressure, base shear, and overturning moment are calculated. The seismic response analysis of an example rectangular liquid storage tank is performed using the proposed simplified approach, and its accuracy is verified by comparing the results with the reference solution by the finite element method. Existing seismic design codes based on the hydrodynamic pressure in rigid liquid storage tanks are observed to produce results with significant errors that cannot be ignored.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제23권6호
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• pp.615-634
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• 2006

Seismic response of the liquid storage tanks isolated by the elastomeric bearings and sliding systems is investigated under near-fault earthquake motions. The fault normal and parallel components of near-fault motion are applied in two horizontal directions of the tank. The continuous liquid mass of the tank is modeled as lumped masses known as sloshing mass, impulsive mass and rigid mass. The corresponding stiffness associated with these lumped masses has been worked out depending upon the properties of the tank wall and liquid mass. It is observed that the resultant response of the isolated tank is mainly governed by fault normal component with minor contribution from the fault parallel component. Further, a parametric study is also carried out to study the effects of important system parameters on the effectiveness of seismic isolation for liquid storage tanks. The various important parameters considered are: aspect ratio of tank, the period of isolation and the damping of isolation bearings. There exists an optimum value of isolation damping for which the base shear in the tank attains the minimum value under near-fault motion. The increase of damping beyond the optimum value will reduce the bearing and sloshing displacements but increases the base shear. A comparative performance of five isolation systems for liquid storage tanks is also studied under normal component of near-fault motion and found that the EDF type isolation system may be a better choice for design of isolated tank in near-fault locations. Finally, it is also observed that the satisfactory response can be obtained by analysing the base-isolated tanks under simple cycloidal pulse instead of complete acceleration history.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제15권5호
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• pp.513-528
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• 2018

A typical viable technique to decrease the seismic response of liquid storage tanks is to isolate them at the base. Base-isolation systems are an efficient and feasible solution to reduce the vulnerability of structures in high seismic risk zones. Nevertheless, when liquid storage tanks are under long-period shaking, the base-isolation systems could have different impacts. These kinds of earthquakes can damage the tanks readily. Hence, the seismic behaviour and vibration of cylindrical liquid storage tanks, subjected to earthquakes, is of paramount importance, and it is investigated in this paper. The Finite Element Method is used to evaluate seismic response in addition to the reduction of excessive liquid sloshing in the tank when subjected to the long-period ground motion. The non-linear stress-strain behaviour pertaining to polymers and rubbers is implemented while non-linear contact elements are employed to describe the 3-D surface-to-surface contact. Therefore, Nonlinear Procedures are used to investigate the fluid-structure interactions (FSI) between liquid and the tank wall while there is incompressible liquid. Part I, examines the effect of the flexibility of the isolation system and the tank aspect ratio (height to radius) on the tank wall radial displacements of the tank wall and the liquid sloshing heights. Maximum stress and base shear force for various aspect ratios and different base-isolators, which are subjected to three seismic conditions, will be discussed in Part II. It is shown that the composite-base isolator is much more effective than other isolators due to its high flexibility and strength combined. Moreover, the base isolators may decrease the maximum level pertaining to radial displacement.

• 한국지진공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국지진공학회 2002년도 추계 학술발표회 논문집
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• pp.98-105
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• 2002

The effects of the base-isolation system and elastic soil foundation on the behavior of a liquid storage tank are studied. To evaluate the seismic response of liquid storage tank accurately, the coupled dynamic system considering base isolation and soil interaction problem is formulated in time domain. Results show that the base isolation system reduces effectively the radial displacements, base shears, overturning moments, axial resultant stresses and the hydrodynamic pressure by providing flexibility and energy dissipation capability. Base Isolation may, however, increase the relative liquid sloshing amplitude due to the effect of liquid-structure interaction and cause excessive large relative displacements between structure and foundation. In addition to base-isolator, the dynamic behavior of liquid storage tank is related to the flexibility of base foundation, so the analysis of soil-structure interaction s achieved.

• 국제강구조저널
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.1167-1176
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• 2018

Steel cylindrical tanks are widely used for the storage of hazardous substances of which leakage must be prevented under any circumstances. However, the dynamic response of the steel cylindrical liquid storage tank depends sensitively on the fluid-structure interaction and the vibration of the tank structure and necessitates clarification for the safety of the tank structure. This paper presents the results of shaking table tests performed to examine the dynamic behavior of a scaled cylindrical steel tank model considering the presence or not of fixed roof and added mass at the top of the tank for various fluid levels. The test results confirm the occurrence of both beam-type and oval-type vibration modes and show that the larger content of liquid inside the container amplified the acceleration along the height of the cylindrical tank. The oval-type vibration modes are seen to be more dominant in case of large water-to-structure mass ratio.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제77권3호
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• pp.369-381
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• 2021

The seismic responses of elevated tanks considering liquid-structure interaction are presented under horizontal earthquake. The scaled model tank is fabricated to study the dynamic responses of anchored tank and newly designed uplift tank with replaced dampers. The natural frequencies for structural mode are obtained by modal analysis. The dynamic responses of tanks are completed by finite element method, which are compared with the results from experiment. The displacement parallel and perpendicular to the excitation direction are both gained as well as structural acceleration. The strain of tank walls and the axial strain of columns are also obtained afterwards. The seismic responses of liquid storage tank can be calculated by the finite element model effectively and the results match well with the one measured by experiment. The aim is to provide a new type of tank system with vertical constraint relaxed which leads to lower stress level. With the liquid volume increasing, the structural fundamental frequency has a great reduction and the one of uplift tank are even smaller. Compared with anchored tank, the displacement of uplift tank is magnified, the strain for tank walls and columns parallel to excitation direction reduces obviously, while the one perpendicular to earthquake direction increases a lot, but the values are still small. The stress level of new tank seems to be more even due to uplift effect. The new type of tank can realize recoverable function by replacing dampers after earthquake.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제65권5호
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• pp.557-572
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• 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
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• 제26권5호
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• pp.337-348
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• 2024

This paper presents a new seismic isolation design for liquid storage tank (LST). The seismic isolation system includes: LST, flexible membrane, sand mat and rolling seismic isolation devices. Based on the mechanical equilibrium theory, the symmetric concave rolling restoring force model of the isolation device is derived. Based on the elasticity theory and restoring force model of the seismic isolation, a simplified mechanical model of LST with the new seismic isolation is established. The rationality of the seismic isolation design of LST is explored. Meanwhile, the seismic response of the new seismic isolation LST is investigated by numerical simulation. The results show that the new seismic isolation tank can effectively reduce the seismic response, especially the control of base shear and overturning moment, which greatly reduces the risk of seismic damage. The seismic reduction rate of the new seismic isolation storage tanks in Class I, II, and III sites is better than that in Class IV sites. Moreover, the seismic isolation device can effectively control the ground vibration response of storage tanks with different liquid heights. The new seismic isolation LST design provides better isolation for slender LSTs than for broad LSTs.