Axisymmetric Finite Element Analysis for Sloshing Response of Floating Roofs in Cylindrical Storage Tanks

Abstract

The floating roofs are widely used to prevent evaporation of content in the large oil storage tanks. The 2003 Tokachi-Oki earthquake caused severe damage to the floating roofs due to liquid sloshing. The structural integrity of the floating roofs for the sloshing is urgent issue to establish for the petrochemical and oil refining industries. This paper presents the axisymmetric finite element analysis for the sloshing response of floating roofs in cylindrical storage tanks. The hydrodynamic coupling of fluid and floating roof under seismic excitation is taken into consideration in the analysis. It is assumed that the fluid is incompressible and inviscid, and the roof is linear elastic while the sidewall and the bottom are rigid. The theory for the finite element analysis in which the behavior of the fluid is formulated in terms of dynamic pressure as the Eulerian approach is developed. The basic vibration characteristics of the floating roof, such as natural frequencies and vibration modes, can be obtained from the analysis. These give engineers important information on the floating roof design.