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Seismic Desing of Storage Tanks PDF
Seismic Desing of Storage Tanks PDF
ABSTRACT
The seismic performance of storage was particularly the case where the support
tanks is a matter of special importance, system consisted of vertical columns circum-
extending beyond the economic value of the ferentially disposed, joined by one or more
tanks and contents. Without an assured levels of circumferential beams (see Fig. 3 ) .
water supply, uncontrolled fires subsequent Failure of beam and column plastic hinges in
to a major earthquake may cause substant- these circular frames was common. Although
ially more damage than the earthquake it- ground-supported concrete tanks have not
self , as occurred in the great 1906 San been extensively damaged, underground tanks
Francisco earthquake. Safe supplies of have, as illustrated by Fig. 4 which shows
drinking water are also essential immedi- damage to support columns and roof construct-
ately following destructive earthquakes to ion joints sustained by an underground con-
avoid outbreaks of disease. Consequently, crete reservoir of the Balboa Water treat-
water supply reservoirs must remain funct- ment plant in the 1971 San Fernando earth-
ional after earthquakes. Failure of tanks quake (1) .
containing highly inflammable petroleum
products has frequently lead to extensive In 1983 the New Zealand National
uncontrolled fires, as occurred, for Society for Earthquake Engineering set up a
example, following the Niigata and Alaska Study Group to produce recommendations for
earthquakes of 1964. Spillage of toxic the seismic design of storage tanks (6). It
chemicals or liquified gases from damaged was perceived that there was a real need for
tanks could release dangerous liquids or a unified approach to the problem, as exist-
gas clouds with disastrous effects in ing codes for storage of water, petro-
populous areas. chemicals and other substances were based on
quite different principles, and included
Damage to steel storage tanks in significant differences in basic require-
recent earthquakes includes 'elephants- ments . The range of tanks covered by the
foot buckling of bottom shell courses
8
codes was rather small and was inadequate
(Fig. 1)(1), diamond-shaped buckling of for the sizes, shapes and support conditions
tanks with very thin shells (Fig. 2) ( ) , 2
commonly experienced in New Zealand. The
failure of frangible joints between wall recommendations were not in a form compat-
and cone roofs due to sloshing of liquids, ible with other relevant New Zealand codes.
failure of the tank support system for
elevated tanks(3), foundation failure due The intention of the study group was to
to liquefaction of materials under tanks( ), 4
collate existing information, available in
fracture of wall/base-plate welds in tanks research papers and codes, and to produce
unrestrained or partially restrained uniform recommendations that would cover as
against uplift d ) , and fracture of piping wide a range of tank designs and contained
connected to the tank(D . materials as possible. Design philosophy
was to be clearly stated, as this was
Concrete tanks have also suffered notable lacking in existing documents. It
significant damage. Many elevated concrete was felt that sufficient existing inform-
ation was available to provide the basis
1 University of California, San Diego; for detailed recommendations for the great
formerly University of Canterbury. majority of tank designs. The committee
recognised that any involvement in basic
2 Ministry of Works and Development. research would delay the production of the
3 University of Auckland.
final recommendations, and hence new of the design earthquake is not stated.
material presented in the document is limit- The SDPP document provides useful inform-
ed, though the manner of presentation has ation on the suitable return period for
frequently been altered in the interests of specific design situations, but other codes
clarity. Areas where it is felt that further do not address the problem. The design
basic research is needed are identified. philosophy of existing codes is not clearly
stated, particularly related to definition
Three codes have commonly been consider- of performance criteria under the design
ed, under different conditions, for the loads.
design of storage tanks in New Zealand.
These are the New Zealand Loadings Code, The Recommendations attempt to produce
NZS 4203(7), Appendix E of the American a unified approach for the seismic design
Petroleum Institute standard API-650(8) , of storage tanks, regardless of materials
and a Ministry of Works and Development or function, and to provide additional
document. Seismic Design of Petrochemical information to that already available in
Plants(9$. Another standard of relevance alternative sources. The information
is the American Waterworks Association relates only to the storage tanks themselves,
document AWWA D-100(10). and their immediate fixings to pipelines,
but not to pipeline design itself. Much
The Loadings Code gives little guidance useful design information on pipeline design
for the seismic analysis of storage tanks, is available in a recent ASCE publication(I ). 3
terms of p values, which may vary with time, and each representing a different anti-
rather than by the average return period of symmetric slosh mode of the fluid in the
design-level ground shaking. tank.
must be established to minimise damage and and first-mode masses, acting at heights h Q
potential for loss of tank contents. and hi above the base. For flexible tanks,
a category which will include most steel
Section 1 is a simple statement of tanks, the inertia mass IRQ is divided into
acceptable risk, and required performance. two sub-masses m and m , acting at heights
r f
It contains a total of only seven clauses, h and hf, representing the proportion of
r
but effectively fully defines the design tank contents that continue to act as though
philosophy. Other sections of the report rigidly attached to the tank floor, and the
may be considered to represent a 'Means of proportion that interacts with the lateral
Compliance' with Section 1„ flexibility of the tank walls.
This section defines the loading on the available in the literature for cylindrical
tank shell and foundations corresponding to tanks with vertical axis, and for rectang-
the design level earthquake. The loading is ular tanks. These are reproduced for con-
a function of the mass of the tank, impul- venience in the recommendations.
sive and convective masses representing the
fluid, and earthquake accelerations derived The periods of the various modes
from a response spectrum. Effects of both represented by the spring-mass analogy may
horizontal and vertical ground acceleration be calculated from data available in the
are considered, as are the influence of tank literature, and reproduced in the document.
and foundation flexibility. However, this data relates to rigid found-
ation conditions, and modifications are
Section 2 is the longest section of necessary to account for the influence of
the report, and the commentary to the foundation flexibility. The effects of
section contains extensive information in foundation flexibility are particularly
the form of design aids. The provisions of significant for the inertial mode of
this section for horizontal response are response, for which the assumption of rigid
based on the mechanical spring-mass analogy foundations may be significantly non-
developed by Graham and Rodriguez(14) f conservative. Equations for period shift,
Jacobsend^l and H o u s n e r ^ H ) for rigid which is related to the relative stiffness
tanks, and modified by Haroun and Housner * ' 1
of tank and foundation, and increased damp-
and Veletsos(13) for flexible tanks. In ing associated with the inertia modes, are
the spring-mass analogy, a proportion of included in the recommendations.
the mass of the fluid contents is considered
to act as though rigidly linked to the tank Having found the masses and periods
walls, with the remainder of the fluid mass associated with the horizontal modes of
being divided into a series of submasses, response, the total horizontal seismic force
each flexibly attached to the tank walls, Qi associated with a particular mode i of
m = roof mass
t
m = wall mass
w
m t
: base mass
mw
m r
Vigid
nrib
» m Elastic
Soil
E ,v
s s
x(t)
response is calculated from the expression Zealand rely extensively on foreign data
modified by what little local data that is
(1) available)_ A S this debate has not been
Q
i = C
h(T) i
m g
the site for the design-level earthquake. involving flexibility of the tank walls,
which results in amplification of the
There is considerable debate currently effects of the vertical ground accelerations.
in New Zealand relating to the appropriate It is felt that high vertical response
response spectra to reflect New Zealand accelerations have a major influence in the
seismicity. To a large extent the debate formation of the 'elephants foot buckling
1
is a result of the total lack of near-field of Fig. 1. Figure 7 shows the spring-mass
strong motion accelerograph records for models representing vertical response for
medium to large earthquakes (M > 6 ) . As a both rigid and flexible-wall tanks. In both
consequence, seismology models for New cases, the influence of foundation
<
m t m = roof mass
t
m = wall mass
w
m = base mass
b
-rigid
:N
^ ^ j ^ r Elastic ^ ^ ^ 5 ^
m b
Soil mb
e ,v
s s
IMPULSIVE PRESSURE
H:R= 030
RfT VALUES
rigid pressure. Data are related to the of fluid supported directly by the found-
tank radius R, height H and wall thickness ation over area of base that does not
t. Actual hoop force N and vertical bend- uplift (radius r ) , W = weight of shell and w
For steel tanks an ultimate load com- input required to cause overturning
bination of increases as the tank size increases.
Ishiyama(20) showed that for rigid bodies,
U = 1.0D + 1.0L
+ E (11) overturning could only occur if the peak
o ground acceleration a and the peak ground Q
The Elastic Design approach is Tanks with aspect ratios greater than
specified for concrete tanks in preference the limit of Eqn. (13) and with radius less
to ultimate load design because of diffi- than the limit of Eqn, (14) are potentially
culties in assessing the relative stiffness, susceptible to overturning, and should be
as the ultimate condition is approached, of anchored to their foundations. Other tanks
the membrane action and vertical bending may be anchored, even though not required by
action which act together to support the Section 4, to reduce shell stresses or
total load. Although the relative stiff- displacements.
ness can be computed relatively convincingly
at elastic levels of response, the values Where positive anchorage is provided,
so obtained are inappropriate at ultimate. the maximum hold-down force per unit length
The approach taken has also been adopted P, is dependent on the ductility of the
by a recent New Zealand Standard for the anchors. For normal anchor bolts, where
design of Concrete Structures for the brittle fracture in a root thread can be
Storage of L i q u i d s ( ) . 19 expected, the calculation is based on a
symmetric distribution of anchor forces as
A common problem in tank design has shown in Fig. 10(b). Thus
been to decide whether or not positive
anchorage to the foundation is required, 4 M
and what are the design anchorage forces (15)
when anchorage is provided. Except in the Tf D 0
case of small tanks, there is very little
chance of a tank overturning in an earth-
quake. This is because the relative energy where W. is the vertical load carried by the
tank wall per unit circumferential length at
the base, and M Q is the overturning moment.
W t This equation is specified in API-650-E^ ^. 8
max- —73 «t
*TXD| ' 8 M
P
max ~ ~ ~~~2 W
t (16)
3TT D 0
(b) ANTISYMMETRIC ANCHOR FORCE DISTRIBUTION Use of Eqn. (16) provides some economic
benefit from adopting ductile anchor bolts.
8M0 - W .
T Section 4 contains specific requirements
I'ma
for steel and concrete tanks, separately
discussed in brief, below.
( c ) 'DUCTILE' ELASTIC ANCHOR FORCE DISTRIBUTION
FP - 2 M
° w A significant departure from past
practice for tank design has been taken in
the approach for allowable stresses in steel
(d) DUCTILE PLASTIC ANCHOR FORCE DISTRIBUTION tanks. Since Eqn. (11) is an ultimate load
equation, and since the design approach is
based on probabilistic considerations,
FIG. 10 POSSIBLE ANCHOR FORCE DISTRIBUTION allowable stresses are specified with the
280
The vertical membrane stress to induce Equation (18) expresses the increase
buckling in a shell is a function of the in buckling stress due to internal pressure
internal pressure, the circumferential (23) expressed in terms of the nominal hoop
f
variation of axial stress, and above all, stress ratio p given by Eqn. (20).
the relative amplitude of imperfections
(6/t) in the wall. The effect of imperfect- Equation (17) expresses the increase in
ions (radial errors in wall position) is to buckling stress due to the axial stress
decrease the buckling stress to a fraction being induced by bending, rather than axial
of the classical 'perfect shell' buckling loading(24) . As this is primarily the case
stress f n , given by Eqn. (19). Internal
c for seismically induced membrane compression,
pressure decreases the effective imperfect- it is appropriate to include in these stress
ion amplitude, hence increasing the buckling criteria. Note that the maximum allowable
stress. Circumferential variation of axial stress that can result from Eqns. (17) to
stress reduces the probability of coinci- (22) is the classical buckling stress f l* c
dence of the maximum stress and the maximum Generally the level is much lower.
imperfection, again increasing the buckling
stress. Thus the buckling load associated Figure 11 compares the membrane com-
with membrane compression induced by bending pression buckling stresses for normal
exceeds that where the compression is quality construction with the classical
induced by axial load. However, in both buckling equation. The influence of a
cases (internal pressure, and bending) it moderate hoop tension of 100 MPa in increas-
appears that the classical buckling stress ing the buckling stress is very evident,
is an upper limit. particularly at high R/t values. The
influence of bending compression, compared
with uniform compression is also significant,
< 0.19 + 0. (17) but the influence decreases as the internal
cl
L
cl pressure increases.
cl |) (1 " ) < f c l
API—650 stresses hs
l e t v t ; Detail i l i u l t i a t i e u u y
(18)
Elastic-Plastic Collapse
f . = 0.6E ™ (19)
cl R Towards the bottom of the tank, the
steel is subjected to a biaxial stress state
< 5 (20) consisting of hoop tension and (in the worst
P = tf
cl case) vertical compression, as shown in
Fig. 12. Radial deformations under internal
pressure create additional eccentricity,
For
tending to iriduce the commonly observed
'elephants foot' buckling. The following
(21a) equation, developed by Rotter(25) gives an
(x 2
-) < 2 f = f (1
accurate assessment of the stress required
cl o y to initiate elastic-plastic collapse, and is
specified in the Recommendations.
For
(X 2
= ) > 2 (21b)
o cl
° cl
f
where
281
R/t RATIO
R/t
200
R/t
*250T
500 _
150 " 5 0 0
LU
cc \. 750.,
_750
z
o
$ 100 -1000
or
o J_500
2000 ^ ^ ^ v X ^ v ipoo_
50
with maximum compressions up to 0 . 6 f ^ , where small number of design details that have the
f^ is the cylinder compression strength, and potential for having a great influence on
maximum tensions in prestressed concrete up the performance of tanks under earthquake
to 0 . 5 / f J . Out of plane shear stresses are loading. Aspects relevant to steel tanks
regulated by limits to principal tension include flexible piping connections, rein-
stress. forced nozzle connections to thin walled
tanks, displacement tolerance of floating
SECTION 5 : FOUNDATIONS roofs, frangible joints between shell and
roof for fixed-roof tanks, and base anchor-
This section is necessarily less age details. Methods for providing membrane
specific than the former sections, because shear transfer between wall and base of
of the complexity of Geotechnical aspects concrete tanks are discussed.
of tank design, and a consequent reluctance
of Geotechnical Engineers to provide APPENDIX DESIGN EXAMPLES
specific and detailed design data in a code
format. New Zealand designers will be To assist designers in using the
familiar with the controversy associated recommendations, an Appendix is included
with unsuccessful attempts in the past to with detailed design examples relating to
formulate a general Foundation Design Code.
Section 5 places particular importance on (1) a large circular oil storage tank
the need for expert Geotechnical advice for
major installations. The section discusses (2) a stainless steel wire vat
Site Investigation requirements, Foundation
Evaluation, with special attention drawn (3) a prestressed circular concrete
to erodible soils, liquefiable soils, reservoir on alluvium site
collapsible soils and sensitive soils,
Foundation Analysis, with suggested factors (4) a rectangular concrete reservoir.
of safety for slope stability, bearing
capacity, liquefaction and base sliding, Both rigid and flexible foundation
and Foundation Details. This last sub- conditions are considered, and the steel
section discusses foundation detailing tanks are both analysed in the anchored
required for ground improvement, pile base and uplifting base condition.
foundations, foundation drainage, and
mounded or buried tanks. CONCLUSIONS
cover aspects of seismic loading that have (9) , 'Seismic Design of Petrochemical
often been ignored. Design criteria and Plants', Ministry of Works and Develop-
required performance are clearly stated in ment Civil Division Publication,
simple terms. Although most of the provi- Wellington, 1981.
sions have been based on existing published
information, it has been necessary to extra- (10) - , 'AWWA Standard for Welded Steel
polate in some cases, particularly for tanks Tanks for Water Storage', AWWA-D100,
of unusual shape. American Waterworks Association, Denver,
Colorado.
It is the belief of the Study Group
which drafted the Recommendations that the (11) Housner, G.W., 'The Dynamic Behaviour
document will result in safe and economic of Water Tanks', B.S.S.A., Vol. 53,
tanks for regions of high seismicity. No. 2, 1963.
Acknowledgement is also made of the (14) Graham, E.W. and Rodriguez, A.M., 'The
generous financial assistance received from Characteristics of Fuel Motion Which
the Heavy Engineering Research Association, Affect Airplane Dynamics', West Coast
the New Zealand Concrete Research Associ- Conference of the Applied Mechanical
ation, Mobil, Caltex, BP, Shell Petrocorp, Division of the Soc. of Mech. Engineers,
New Zealand Refining, and the University of California, 1952.
Canterbury.
(15) Jacobsen, L.S., 'Impulsive Hydro-
REFERENCES dynamics of Fluid Inside a Cylindrical
Container, and of Fluid Surrounding a
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1
Cylindrical Pier', B.S.S.A., Vol. 39,
Features of the San Fernando Earthquake No. 3, 1949.
of February 9, 1971', Report EERL 71-02,
California Institute of Technology, (16) Haroun, M.A. and Housner, G.W., 'Dynamic
Pasadena, 1971. Characteristics of Liquid Storage Tanks',
Jour. Engineering Mechanics Division,
(2) Moore, A.T.. 'The Response of Cylindri- ASCE, Vol. 10 8, No. EM5, 1982.
cal Liquid Storage Tanks to Earthquakes',
Proc. Int. Conference on Large Earth- (17) Matuschka, T., Berryman, K.R.,
quakes, Misc. Series No. 5, Royal Oleary, A.J., McVerry, G.H.,
Society of New Zealand, 1981. Mullholland, W.M. and Skinner, R.I.,
'New Zealand Seismic Hazard Analysis',
(3) Berg, G.V. and Stratta, J.L., 'Anchor- Bull. NZNSEE Vol. 18, No. 4, Dec. 1985,
age and the Alaska Earthquake of March pp.313-222.
27, 1964', American Iron and Steel
Institute, New York. (18) Clough, D.P., 'Experimental Evaluation
of Seismic Design Methods for Broad
(4) Kawasumi, H. (ed), 'General Report on Cylinder Tanks', EERC 77/10, University
the Niigata Earthquake of 1964', Tokyo of California, Berkeley, 1977.
Electical Engineering College Press.
(19) - , 'Code of Practice for Concrete
(5) Steinbrugge, K.V. and Flores, R., ' Structures for the Storage of Liquids',
'Engineering Report on the Chilean NZS 3106, Standards Association of New
Earthquakes of May 1960 - A Structural Zealand, 1986.
Engineering Viewpoint', B.S.S.A.,
Vol. 53, NO. 2, 1963. (20) Ishiyama, Y., 'Motion of Rigid Bodies
and Criteria for Overturning by Earth-
(6) Priestley, M.J.N. (Ed), 'Seismic Desian quake Excitations', Bull. NZNSEE
of Storage Tanks', New Zealand National Vol. 17, No. 1, March 1984, pp.24-37.
Society for Earthquake Engineering,
Wellington, 1986. (21) Rotter, J.M., 'Buckling of Ground-
Supported Cylindrical Steel Bins Under
(7) - , 'Code of Practice for General Vertical Compressive Wall Loads', Proc.
Structural Design and Design Loadings Metal Structures Conference, Institut-
for Buildings', NZS 4203:1984, Standards ion of Engineers, Australia, Melbourne,
Association of New Zealand, 1984. 1985, pp.112-127.
(8) - , 'Welded Steel Tanks for Oil (22) Koiter, W.T., 'On the Stability of
Storage. Appendix E - Seismic Design Elastic Equilibrium , (in Dutch), Ph.D.
1