A Study on the Structural Analysis for Sloshing Prevention through Binding between FRP Firefighting Water Tank Members

Abstract

The seismic safety of a fire extinguishing water tank must be verified because of the revision of the seismic design standard of fire protection systems. Although, the FRP water tank has weak physical properties, it is often used as a fire extinguishing water tank, confronting the reality that there is no way of checking its structural safety. This study focuses on a reliable structural analysis by extracting and accumulating data on the physical and chemical characteristics of FRP through the National Certification Testing Agency to ensure the structural safety of an FRP water tank. It has been found that sloshing causes the breakage of a water tank and the fluid movement in the lower part of a water tank can be reduced not by using the external reinforcement method but by improving the internal structure through binding of the water tank members. This method can be employed for reinforcing the seismic safety of an FRP water tank with weak physical properties. Accordingly, a water tank with a structure that prevents sloshing caused by an earthquake has been developed. The improvement in the seismic safety of the developed fire extinguishing water tank has been verified through a Solidworks simulation analysis. Therefore, the proposed strategy for the improvement of the seismic safety of a fire extinguishing water tank can be employed as the basic study material for using an FRP water tank with weak physical properties as the seismic fire extinguishing water tank.