An Investigation into the Liquid Sloshing Characteristics of Ground Anchored Tanks during Lateral Vibration

Abstract

Sloshing is one of the major concerns for liquid storage tanks and the vibration characteristics of the contained liquid require lot of research attention. Simulated experimental investigations using triaxial shake tables are rare in this field and the non linear dynamic behavior of the structure is of interest, be it during transportation of liquids or during earthquakes. The paper presents an experimental cum analytical investigation on lateral sloshing behavior under simulated vibrating conditions on a fixed base rectangular container with water. The tank has been designed to suit experimental requirements and the walls were made of Perspex sheets in order to view the sloshing phenomena and for image capturing purposes. The behavior of the system is identified during dynamic loading under lateral sweep sine excitation and simulated random vibration studies were carried out further on the 3D shaking table. Sloshing natural frequencies, wave amplitudes and dynamic pressures on the tank walls are measured...