Water-Storage-Tank Failure due to Freezing and Pressurization

Author(s): Lawrence W. Wormald

Source: Journal (American Water Works Association), Vol. 64, No. 3, A Perspective
Overview of Equipment and Materials (March 1972), pp. 173-175
Published by: Wiley
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41266662
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for almost 100 yr with, perhaps ence is the result of similar fabrica- water-supply field benefit directly
100,000 units or more fabricated in tions in other industries. Specifically,
from this experience in materials, con-
that time. Consequently, the de- the material, construction, and test- struction, and test methods.
signer and fabricator of a steel ing requirements for the steel ves-The selection of ,a water storage
water tank has an impressive amount sels fabricated for the natural gas,
tank to fill the needs of a city or in-
of background upon which he can chemical, petroleum, nuclear, and dustry deserves a careful and critical
draw - more than any other group of space industries are usually more
evaluation of the alternate designs
contracting companies in the field of severe than the same requirements
available, the history of dependable
services, and the economic factors.
water storage. Much of this experi- for water storage. And those in the

Water-Storage-Tank Failure
due to Freezing and Pressurization A "METRICIZED" ARTICLE
Lawrence W. Wormald
and they "valved-off" the tank. The
Elevated water tanks can react to the rigor of a freezing environment
remaining water drained from the
somewhat like a milk bottle- unless certain precautions, which the tank through the leaky manhole dur-
author describes, are taken. ing that night.
A check of the available pressure
Water storage tanks are normally and to reduce the load on the booster- and water-level records revealed that
designed assuming a free-standing pump station, connections were made the tank had been idle for several
water surface at some level below the between the new transmission line
months preceding the failure. Be-
top of the tank. An overflow, an air and the distribution system. With cause of the strong regional feed and
vent, and an altitude valve that con- these connections, the community ahad reduced winter demand, the pump
trols inflow are all items normally a strong supply of good quality water. station also was inactive. The usual
provided to protect the tank. How-The stage was set for an unfortu- water movement into and out of the
ever, under certain conditions, these nate chain of events. The 300,000-gal tank, which inhibits ice formation,
devices can either totally or partially (540,000 liters) elevated water- was not present.
fail and become detriments. When storage tank shown in Fig. 1 is of a An inspection was made of the
this situation occurs, failure due type to commonly referred to as toro- empty tank through the riser manhole
pressurization may result. spherical" or "spheroidal." The im-and the roof door. Ice, over 1 ft
A case in point concerns an ele- portant design parameter, with re- thick, had to be chopped from the
vated steel water tank serving agard su- to the failure that is the basis inside of the roof door opening. The
burban community in northeastern for this article, is the shape of the ice accumulation in the tank was con-
US. About 10 yr ago, this tank and bottom.
fined to the periphery of the tank and
a booster-pump station were con- The tank has a "dimpled" bottom, the riser. The top of the tank had
structed to meet peak-hour demands designed so that from one quarter caved to in, which appeared to be the
and to provide additional fire protec- one third of the water in the tank will
result of a partial vacuum created
tion. Pumping was regulated by be wa- supported by the riser. (The riser during the draining of the tank. This
ter levels in the storage and the is sys-the large column in the center of condition apparently confirms the
tem operated effectively. the tank.) Water flows into and outsuspicion that the tank was sealed
In recent years, a regionalized .of storage through the riser. The and could have become pressurized.
transmission system has been devel- riser of the tank that was to fail Elevations were determined for all
oped to provide additional water from (Fig. 1) was 5 ft (1.5 m) in diameter of the tank foundations and checked
a new source of supply. A large and was constructed of structural
against data recorded during the tank
transmission line was constructed steel plate ;'4 in. (0.8 cm) thick.construction. There was no signif-
through the area to a major storage icant change in the foundations. The
Failure Conditions
reservoir. The overflow from this flexible tank bottom could withstand
new reservoir was set to provide
Late in December in an area where some vertical movement of the riser
optimum pressures throughout cold the winters are not uncommon, the and such a movement would not sig-
region. This new system had a average temperature had been belownificantly increase the loads on the
gravity gradient some 50 ft (16m) freezing for several weeks. Due to the
riser. Therefore, frost heave was
above that of the older distribution flat terrain, strong winds quicklyruled out as a possible cause of the
system. The differential was even draw off heat from all surfaces. failure.
greater when the regional system was One evening a "snowmobiler" dis-
pumping. However, the maximum
covered that the tank had failed. He A paper presented at the New York Sec.
pressure was not excessive in terms was
of drawn to the tank by the soundMeeting on Apr. 15, 1971, by Lawrence
that that is currently acceptable for W. Wormald (Active Member; AWWA),
of the water escaping from the leak-
sr. project engr., Barton, Brown, Clyde &
community water supply. ing riser manhole. Utility-works
Loguidice, North Syracuse, N.Y.
personnel were called to the scene
In an effort to provide more water

MARCH 1972 L. W. WORMALD 173

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 legs, its own weight, and the weight
of the water and ice, which created a
sort of inverted hydraulic jack.
10. Axial loa<Js on' the riser were
greatly increased by the jacking action
against a relatively unyielding riser
foundation.
11. Hoop tension in the riser was
increased due to pressurization of
the tank.
12. The increased axial load aug-
mented by the increased hoop ten-
sion over stressed the riser steel and
failure resulted.
13. The failure continued until the
Fig. 1. Object of Failure - A 300,000-gal Elevated Water-Storage Tank riser deformation broke the seal on
the riser manhole, which relieved the
One failure theory was predicated of the altitude valve. Since the sys-
on a significant ice formation at the tem gradient was continuously main- tank pressure and halted the process.
very bottom of the riser. However, tained above this level, the tank The re- foregoing sequence of events
a close look at the failed section re- mained idle. produced the biaxial failure shown in
vealed the presence of inward as well 2. Ice formed in contact with the
Fig. 3 - typical of compression fail-
as outward buckling. Also, ice in
cold-metal interior surfaces of the ures in tubes.1 The anchor chairs
the riser would be free to expand
tank, particularly at the upper, outer
(i.e., the connectors at the riser bot-
upward. Thus, failure due to theedges. tom) stiffened the very bottom of the
outward pressure of ice at the bot-3. As tbo ice formed, its expansion riser and the failure occurred in the
tom of the riser is considered im-
displaced water, which moved slowly lowest unsupported section of the
probable. upward over the ice displacing air riser.
through the vent. The greater sys- There are recorded instances of
Author's Hypothesis
tem gradient prevented the displaced water tanks, particularly fire-protec-
The following discussion describes water from leaving the tank through tion storages, "blowing their tops"
the tank failure, as analyzed by the thealtitude valve. Minor altitude- due to ice formation. Some obser-
author :
valve leakage, which is often present,
vers wondered why it had not hap-
1.* The tank had been filled to the would compound the effects ofpened ice in this case. The answer lies
formation and accelerate the tank in the tank's basic design. Due to
overflow level due to the adjustment
failure process. this design, a relatively small internal
4. The slowly moving cold water
pressure will greatly increase loads
attempted to leave through the stub
on the riser. The lifting effect of this
overflow. However, it froze in con-
small pressure is offset by the weight
tact with the cold metal and event- of the roof, the weight of the ice and
ually sealed that overflow. snow on the tank top, the weight of
5. Continued ice formation and, ice suspended within the tank from
possibly, altitude valve leakage dis-the roof erection angles, and the
placed more cold water to the top underestimated inherent strength of
roof construction.
of the tank, which forced the remain-
ing air out through the vent.
Riser Stresses
6. The slowing rising water froze
and sealed both the roof door and The stresses developed at the riser
the vent, thereby converting the tank
base due to tank pressurization are
to a pressure vessel. found using the following generalized
7. Continued ice formation aug- equations :
mented by the effects of possible
w(wh + P)(Rf* - R*) + Wr
leakage of the altitude valve rapidly 0d =

Ar
increased hydraulic pressures within
the tank, exerting force in all direc- = [w(h + Z) + p]Rr
tions. (It is estimated that ice de- V = 'ltr
veloped to an average thickness of
where
1 ft over the entire inner tank sur-
face.) w = density of water [62.4 l
8. Internal hydraulic pressure cu ft (1 kg/liter)]
attempted to distort the tank into a h = height of water above ta
spherical shape by pushing outward bottom [up to 30.3 ft#(9m
on the tank bottom.
Fig. 2. Diagram Indicating Failure Se- P = gage pressure at tank top
quence 9. The tank was restrained by its (psf)

174 WATER TECHNOLOGY/RESOURCES JOURNAL AWWA

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 R/ = radius to lowest point of Standpipes, according to available
tank bottom [approxi- evidence, are also subject to this prob-
mately 11.6 ft (3.5m) ] lem - exemplified by the failure of a
Rr = radius of riser [2.5 ft (0.825,000-gal (112,000-liter) structure in
m)] northern New Jersey.3 Evidence in-
A r = cross-sectional area of riser dicates that storage was static during
steel[64.5sq in. (420sqcm)] the winter long enough for a sub-
Z = depth of water in riser [upstantial ice layer to form. Then, be-
to 92.7 ft (28m)] cause of a control failure, the system's
tr = thickness of riser steel deep-well turbine pump was acti-
[0.343 in. (0.9 cm)] vated. With the vent and the over-
Wr = riser weight [approx. 23,000
flow of the unit blocked by ice, and
lb (10 tonne)] including with no altitude valve to restrict in-
tank bottom out to its flow, continued pump operation
lowest point pressurized the standpipe. The
<ra = axial stress at riser base
increased internal pressure "bal-
ah = hoop stress at riser base looned" the tank bottom, and the
force of this action was sufficient to
Solutions to the above equations,
cause the anchor bolts to fail - where-
for varying water levels in the tank
upon the standpipe toppled over on
under question, are shown graphically
its side.
by Fig. 4. The maximum allowable
To avoid pressurization, vents and
axial stress specified in AWWA
overflows must be open to the atmo-
Standard D 100-67 is also plotted.2
It can be seen that the axial load sphere. If freezing is a problem,
does not reach the allowable maxi- tanks should not remain idle. They
should be made to work so that ice
mum until the tank is totally formation
full will be limited. In fire-
and begins to pressurize (point A).
protection tanks, heaters are often in-
Thus, the tank was adequately de-
stalled since the tanks are used only
signed for the normally anticipated
during fire drills or emergencies.
operating conditions.
Pressurization continues to in- References
crease the axial stress above that 1. Boyd, James E. Strength of Materials .
allowable. At the same time, the McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York
effective axial yield stress is reduced (1935). p. 78.
2. AWWA Standard D10 0-67 for Steel
by the hoop stress, which acts per- Tanks - Standpipes, Reservoirs and
pendicularly to the axial stress. Elevated Tanks - For Water Storage.
Theoretically, failure would occur at AWWA, New York (1967).
the intersection of the axial stress 3. From an unpublished report by John K.
line and the effective axial yield stress Brackmann, Alfred Crew & Assocs., Fig. 3. Riser Failure due to Tank Pres-
Ridge wood, N.J. surization
line (point B). However, because
System Head Maintained
of construction techniques and ma- at 175 ft Above Riser

terial inconsistencies, failure becomes " Bottom due to Overriding I""- ~ ~~l I
Regional-Type System
increasingly more probable as the
head exceeds the maximum design 1 *

condition and can occur anywhere in * ^^Zone^^^Hof^^^^^Hlmpending^^^^V^^HFailureH

Pressure due
the "zone of impending failure." Top

Conclusion
"J "
Water-storage tanks usually are not
designed as pressure vessels. For Top of Riser I T ®
the tank discussed here, a pressure I Stress in Riser I ' <
head of less than 32 ft (10 m) of wa- ^ I BaS8 I ' £
ter (14 psig) (1 kg/sq cm) could 5 / 1 Effective Axial
produce the observed failure. Other ^ / I Yield Stress '
similarly shaped tanks may with-
stand slightly more or less pressure 2 - Calculated
2 1 Stress in Riser I Axial Stress '
Hoop
depending on their dimensions.
S J Base 1 (AWWA D100)
In elevated tanks of other basic de-
signs (e.g., spherical or ellipsoidal),
pressurization can produce failures. pen Tsmsm a I ihhjumvj ft wzwrsmsm i '
However, the amount of pressure re-
quired and the point of failure are de- /^-[ Valve
Altitude Valve
Stresses Ul Base-
at Riser ° 5 10 15 psi
1,000 20 25 30
pendent on the type of design. Fig. 4. Riser Stresses Resulting From Head of Water in Riser an

MARCH 1972 L. W. WORMALD 175

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