Analysis of unanchored liquid storage tanks under lateral loads

Abstract

AbstractMany liquid storage tanks consist of a steel cylindrical shell, which is welded to a base plate, but not fixed to the foundation. When such an unanchored tank is subjected to lateral loads due to earthquake induced hydrodynamic pressures in the liquid, the tank wall tends to uplift locally, pulling the base plate up with it. The contact problem of the partially uplifted base plate and its interaction with the the cylindrical shell is solved in this paper using the finite difference energy method, and a Fourier decomposition of the displacements in the circumferential direction. Non‐linearities due to contact, finite displacements and yield of the steel are included in the analysis. However, the equations for the shell are linearized. This uncouples the equations for the Fourier displacement coefficients in the cylindrical shell, and enables the degrees of freedom for the shell to be eliminated by static condensation at very little computational cost.Comparing the analytical results to (for the most part existing) experimental results, produces good agreement in some cases and not so good in others. A number of effects that could give rise to such differences are discussed. In most cases they represent experimental conditions that are not known or modelled in the analysis. The analysis results are also compared to those from a simplified analysis in which the hold‐down action of the base plate is modelled by means of nonlinear Winkler springs.