Experimental and numerical study of the response of cylindrical steel tanks under seismic excitation

COMPAGNONI, MARÍA E.; CURADELLI, OSCAR

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

IRAN UNIV SCI & TECHNOL

Año: 2017

1735-0522

To improve the structural seismic response ofliquid storage tanks, in the last 50 years, many researchershave developed different mathematical models, rangingfrom those based on discrete elements such as simplifiedtwo-mass models to those involving fluid?structureinteractions by complex formulations. To provide a broadoverview on the scope and accuracy of different numericallinear models, in this paper, a comparative study based onthe dynamic response assessment of cylindrical groundsupportedcontainers under seismic excitation is conducted.The dynamic response in terms of liquid sloshing height,base shear force and overturning moment is analysed bymeans of: (a) a simplified mechanical model in which thebehaviour of the liquid is represented by a discrete massspringsystem; (b) a complex model based on a Lagrangianfluid finite element approximation and (c) an experimentalscaled model whose measured response is considered asbenchmark. To obtain robust estimators of the structuralresponse, three different types of cylindrical tanks, includingbroad and slender tanks, subjected to real ground accelerationtime-histories are studied. The results indicate thatthe finite element model gives good approximation for allresponse parameters and the simplified mechanical modelunderestimate the sloshing height and overestimate baseshear force and overturning moment.