Effect of MetaFoundation on the Seismic Responses of Liquid Storage Tanks

Mostafa Farajian,Mohammad Iman Khodakarami,Pejman Sharafi

doi:10.3390/app12052514

Mostafa Farajian, Mohammad Iman Khodakarami + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/app12052514

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Journal: Applied sciences	Publication Date: Feb 28, 2022
Citations: 7	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Semnan University, Western Sydney University

Abstract

Cylindrical liquid storage tanks are vital lifeline structures, playing a critical role in industry and human life. Damages to these structures during previous earthquakes indicate their vulnerability against seismic events. A novel strategy to reduce the seismic demands in the structures is the use of metamaterials, being periodically placed in the foundation, called MetaFoundation (MF). The periodic configuration of metamaterials can create a stop band, leading to a decrease in wave propagation in the foundation. The aim of this paper is to study the effect of MF on the dynamic behaviour of liquid storage tanks. To that end, the governing equations of motion of the liquid storage tank equipped with MF are derived and solved in the time domain to obtain the time history of the responses under a set of ground motions. Then, the peak responses of tanks, mounted on MF, are compared with the corresponding responses in the fixed base condition. Besides, a parametric study is performed to assess the effect of the predominant frequency of earthquakes, the number of layers of metamaterials, the thickness of soft material, and the damping ratios of soft material on the performance of the MF. The obtained results indicate that the MF improves the dynamic behaviour of the squat tank, in which the mean ratio of responses using MF to the ones in the fixed base conditions equals 0.551 for impulsive displacement, overturning moment, and base shear.

Highlights

Cylindrical liquid storage tanks made of steel or concrete materials are strategic structures, having been employed to store water for drinking or firefighting, oil and chemical products in urban areas, and industrial plants
This paper evaluates the effectiveness of a novel foundation called MetaFoundation (MF) on the seismic response of liquid storage tanks
The concept of the MF is based on the finite locally resonant metamaterials, which produce a stop band to avoid the propagation of waves

Summary

Introduction

Cylindrical liquid storage tanks made of steel or concrete materials are strategic structures, having been employed to store water for drinking or firefighting, oil and chemical products in urban areas, and industrial plants. Damages to these structures may have catastrophic consequences such as economic losses, fire due to flammable materials, environmental pollution, and disruption of human lives. Two approaches can be followed to improve the performance of liquid containers against seismic events. Increasing the thickness of the wall will increase the input seismic energy. The second approach, aiming to decrease and dissipate the input seismic energy, is exploiting the advantages of control devices, such as base isolation systems, dampers, or other innovative control devices [7]

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