Experimental and numerical study on earthquake-fire coupling failure mechanism of steel cylindrical tanks

Abstract

An earthquake-triggered fire domino scenario (E-FDS) is an example of a typical multi-hazard coupling event. The seismic damage can affect the fire resistance of engineering structures, leading to significant mutually amplified phenomena. In this work, a two-stage experimental program is designed to expound the earthquake-fire coupling failure mechanism of steel cylindrical tanks (SCTs). Quasi-static tests are adopted to simulate the damage characteristics of SCTs under seismic excitation (Stage I). Fire tests are adopted to investigate the fire-resistance performance of pre-damaged SCTs (Stage II). The influences of seismic damage on the fire resistance of SCTs are particularly of interest. Three potential seismic damage degrees are considered. The experimental results show that tank specimens exhibit typical diamond-shaped buckling after Stage I. The coupling failure analysis of SCTs is conducted through sequential thermodynamic coupling simulations. Due to factors such as geometric deformation, residual stress, and thermal radiation absorption capacity, the fire resistance of SCTs is significantly attenuated by seismic damage. For the three damage states, fire resistance time attenuation coefficients (0.868, 0.716, 0.511) and critical temperature attenuation coefficients (0.910, 0.779, 0.672) were obtained. This work provides pivotal insights into the mutually amplified phenomena in E-FDSs.