Effect of viscosity on seismic response of waste storage tanks

Abstract

The dynamic response of liquid-storage tanks subjected to harmonic excitations and earthquake ground motions has been studied. A rigid tank of negligible mass, rigidly supported at the base having a diameter of 50 ft. and fluid height of 20.4 ft. was used in the computer analysis. The liquid is assumed to have a density of 1.5 g/ml. Viscosity values, {mu} = 60, 200, 100, and 10,000 cP, were used in the numerical analyses to study the effects of viscosity on sloshing wave height, impulsive and convective pressure on the tank wall, base shear and base moments. Harmonic excitations as well as earthquake ground motions were used as input motions. The harmonic excitations used in the analyses covers a wide range of frequencies, including both the resonant and non-resonant frequencies. Two earthquake motions were used. One matches the Newmark-Hall median response spectrum and is anchored at 0.24 g for a rock site with a damping of 2% and a time duration of 10 s. The other is the 1978 Tabas earthquake which had a peak ZPA of 0.81 g and a time duration of 29 s. A small tank, about 1/15 the size of the typical waste storage tank, was usedmore » in the harmonic excitation study to investigate the effect of viscosity on the response of liquid-storage tanks and how the viscosity effect is affected by the size of the storage tank. The results of this study show that for the typical waste storage tank subjected to earthquake motions, the effect of viscosity on sloshing wave height and impulsive and convective pressures is very small and can be neglected. For viscosity effect to become noticeable in the response of the typical waste storage tank, the waste viscosity must be greater than 10,000 cP. This value is far greater than the estimated viscosity value of the high level wastes, which may range from 60 to 200 cP for some tanks.« less