Fundamental Study on Evaluation Method of Nonlinear Sloshing Wave Height of Cylindrical Tanks

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When cylindrical tanks installed in the ground, such as oil tanks and liquid storage tanks, receive strong seismic waves, including the long-period component, motion of the free liquid surface inside the tank called sloshing may occur. If high-amplitude sloshing occurs and the waves collide with the tank roof, it may lead to accidents such as damage to the tank roof or outflow of internal liquid. Therefore, it is important to predict the wave height of sloshing generated by an earthquake input. Sloshing is vibration of the free liquid surface, and when the sloshing wave height is small, it can be approximated with a linear vibration model. In that case, the velocity-response-spectrum method using velocity potential can estimate the sloshing wave height under an earthquake input. However, when the sloshing wave height increases and the sloshing becomes nonlinear, it is necessary to evaluate the wave height using other methods such as numerical analysis. Taking into consideration that design earthquake levels tend to increase and the use of seismic isolation mechanisms has continued to spread in recent years, it is possible that the long-period components of an earthquake input which act on cylindrical tanks will also increase. Therefore, although it is thought that the evaluation of nonlinear sloshing wave height is important, there are few examples which quantitatively evaluate the wave height of nonlinear sloshing. In this study, as a simple evaluation technique of a nonlinear sloshing wave height, the applicability of the correction coefficient proposed by Shimada et al. was examined based on the flow analysis which used Volume of Fluid (VOF) method. Moreover, it was studied that the VOF method can be used to evaluate nonlinear sloshing wave height and sloshing wave crest impact pressure acting on the fixed roof of a tank. Shaking table tests will continue to be carried out in order to verify the applicability of the simple evaluation technique of nonlinear sloshing wave height. Results from flow analysis code will also be validated against these test results.