Abstract
This paper investigates the effect of the multi-directional components of ground motion on an unanchored steel storage tank. Both the liquid sloshing effect and contact behavior between the foundation and tank are included in the study. A three-dimensional model for a foundation–structure–liquid system is numerically simulated using the finite element method. The Lagrange fluid finite element method (FEM) in ANSYS is used to consider the liquid–solid interaction. In the liquid–structure–foundation interaction model, the contact and target elements are adapted to simulate the nonlinear uplift and slip effects between the tank and the foundation. Three earthquake ground motions are selected for evaluating the seismic behavior of the tank. Comparisons are made on the horizontal displacement, “elephant-foot” deformation, stress, base shear and moment, sloshing of the liquid, uplift, as well as slip behavior under the application of the unidirectional, bi-directional and tri-directional components. Under the selected ground motions, the horizontal bi-directional seismic component has great influence on the liquid sloshing in the tank studied in this paper. The vertical seismic component produces high compressive axial stress, and it also makes the uplift and slide of the tank bottom increase significantly. The applicability of this conclusion should be carefully considered when applied to other types of ground motion inputs.
Highlights
Aboveground storage tanks are a very important part of industry, mainly used in water supply, nuclear power plants, oil refineries, and petrochemical facilities
The results show that the vertical seismic component contributes to the dynamic response of the tank and cannot be ignored
Under the Silakhor earthquake components recorded at the Chalanchulan station, the results show that the critical peak ground acceleration (PGA) of the dynamic buckling is 0.285 g, and the critical PGA is limited for the analyzed tank structure
Summary
Aboveground storage tanks are a very important part of industry, mainly used in water supply, nuclear power plants, oil refineries, and petrochemical facilities. According to the research of Haroun et al [9,10,11], the performance of a ground tank under vertical excitation is closely related to their seismic design, because the vertical acceleration is transferred to the horizontal hydrodynamic load on the tank wall This effect mainly leads to an increase in the circumferential tensile stress and the influence of horizontal input, which leads to the inelastic buckling of the shell. Due to the differences in earthquake characteristics, tank size, and calculation theory, there is still no consensus about the effect of vertical excitation on the seismic response of the storage tank This present study used the numerical simulation method to establish an unanchored tank model based on ANSYS software, considering the combined actions of the horizontal and vertical components of ground motion. In order to be closer to the actual situation, the contact effect between the tank bottom and foundation is considered, and the influence of the multi-dimensional ground motion on the stress and deformation of the tank was obtained under different calculation conditions
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