Rectangular Tank

Design
Basic approach and practical tips

S.Thirucheeswaran
 CONTENTS
► Introduction
► Main Acceptance Criteria
► Symbols and Units
► Nomenclature
► List of parts or sections to be designed or checked
► Additional Check required for the whole tank and anchoring
► Design Input and Conditions
► General Notes and assumptions
► Types of Rectangular Tanks (Classification for design approach)
► Top plate for Rectangular Tank
► Bottom plate and Base Frame for Rectangular Tank
► Additional points for advanced design (Future)
► Practical tips
► Summary - Rectangular tank types and design references
► References
► Attachments

Rectangular tank design 2

Introduction

Guidelines and step-by-step design procedure is given below for rectangular

tanks and assumptions are made for a conservative design. The design
procedure is an iterative process or checking for given or assumed
thickness, stiffener size and stiffener spacing.
Alternatively, rigorous analysis using FEM or suitable structural design
procedure can be followed.

Rectangular tank design 3

Main Acceptance Criteria

1) Calculated Stress shall be limited to ASME Code Allowable Stress [or]

Actual corroded thickness provided shall not be less than required
corroded plate thickness calculated using ASME Code Allowable Stress

2) Maximum deflection limited to one half of the corroded plate thickness

Symbols and Units: Kanti K Mahajan [unless specified]

Rectangular tank design 4

 Nomenclature
TOP EDGE STIFFENER
R1 – Unit Load (Uniform on entire
span of top edge stiffener)

HORIZONTAL STIIFENER VERTICAL STIFFENER

R2 – Unit Load (Uniform on entire span of intermediate stiffener) “l” - distance between vertical stiffeners (important parameter
for shell plate thickness design)
“L” – length of tank (important parameter for top edge stiffener
design)

Rectangular tank design 5

Nomenclature (continued)

Primary Stiffener

Secondary Stiffener

Rectangular tank design 6

 Nomenclature (continued)

Load on VERTICAL STIFFENERS: UNIFORMLY INCREASING

Load on SHELL (SIDE VERTICAL PLATE) : UNIFORMLY INCREASING

Load on HORIZONTAL STIFFENERS: UNIFORM ON ENTIR SPAN

Load on TOP/BOTTOM PLATE (HORIZONTAL) : UNIFORM ON ENTIR SPAN

Rectangular tank design 7

List of parts or sections to be designed or checked:
Shell (side plate): Thickness, stiffeners (size and spacing), weld size
Top plate: Thickness, stiffeners (size and spacing), weld size
Bottom plate: Thickness, stiffeners (size and spacing), weld size
Base frame member sizing, weld size, supporting points
Lifting lugs and other attachments

Additional Check for the whole tank and anchoring

Check total tank for wind/seismic/wave/transportation etc.

including anchor design.

Rectangular tank design 8

Design Input and Conditions
•Tank size: Width x Height x Length, normally inside dimensions
•Internal pressure, if any
•Material / maximum allowable stress values
•Wind loads, seismic loads, wave loads, transportation loads etc.
•Calculate maximum pressure against side wall due to weight of
contents (p= 0.433  H  s (in psi))

Rectangular tank design 9

General Notes and assumptions:
► Design is based on open top basis, which is conservative. The effect of top plate is not
considered
► If top edge stiffener of sufficient size is provided, top side of shell plate can be considered as
supported on all 4 edges
► Consider either vertical stiffeners or horizontal stiffeners as primary or main stiffeners and let
us call, other one “secondary stiffeners”, that are perpendicular to preliminary stiffeners
► Selection of primary stiffeners (vertical or horizontal) is based on tank size and dimensions
► Secondary stiffeners are considered to reduce plate thickness required and to transfer load to
main stiffeners
► There is no simple formula or procedure to analysis or design rectangular tank with both
horizontal and vertical stiffeners
► All stiffeners shall be continuous and welded at corners
► Shell plate welds shall be full penetration
► Tank design can be optimized on total weight or plate thickness and/or stiffener size
► Tank plate thickness shall be at least 3/16" (5mm) + corrosion allowance
► Suitable corrosion allowance shall be considered
► Use appropriate and consistent units
► Do not combine both vertical stiffeners and horizontal stiffeners at the same time
► If very large tank, consider internal tie-rods. Internal baffles, if any, can be considered as
stiffeners. This will reduce tank plate thickness/weight.

Rectangular tank design 10

Types of Rectangular Tanks
Let us classify the rectangular tanks into 9 types based on stiffeners
arrangement and design procedure.
Types 1 to 4 are simple in construction and design procedures are
also simple. Reference [1] or reference [2] can be used directly for
design of type 1 to 4 tanks.
The references [1] & [2] do not give direct procedures for type 5 to 8.
Hence design approaches for types 5 to 8 are explained below. Type
7 tanks can be designed using reference [6]. Type 9 Tank is designed
with Tie-rods and reference [1] gives a procedure.
Design of rectangular tank shell plate (side vertical plate) is critical
and procedures are given below. Design procedures for top plate,
bottom plate, bottom frame etc. are explained separately. Refer to
sketch showing different types of tanks with stiffener arrangement
commonly used.

Rectangular tank design 11

Types of Rectangular Tanks (Type-1 to 4)
(Classification for design approach)

Type-1
Type-2

Type-3 Type-4

Rectangular tank design 12

Types of Rectangular Tanks (Type - 5 to 8)
(Classification for design approach)

Type-5
Type-5 Type-1
Type-6

Type-1 Type-1
Type-7 Type-8

Rectangular tank design 13

Types of Rectangular Tanks (Type - 9)
(Classification for design approach)

Rectangular tank design 14

Other Types of Rectangular Tanks
(Not discussed here)

Rectangular tank design 15

Type-1: Open top tank without any stiffeners
Shell Plate: Calculate required thickness (tr) and maximum
deflection (ymax)
• Use Roark’s Case 2(d), 3 edges simply supported and 1 edge free,
subjected to hydro-static pressure uniformly increasing (zero at top to
maximum pressure at bottom)
Required thickness t r = SQRT (pb²/Sa), but not less than 3/16”
Y max =   p  b^4 / (E  ta^3), limited to (ta/2)
• Acceptance criteria (stress and deflection)

Rectangular tank design 16

Type-2: Tank with Top Edge Stiffener and/or with top plate
If top edge stiffener of sufficient size is provided or top plate is welded to shell
plates with or without top edge stiffener, all 4 edges may be considered as
supported for shell plate design and Roark’s Case 1 (e) can be used to
calculate required shell plate thickness (tr) and maximum deflection (Ymax).
Acceptance criteria shall be stress and deflection.
• Calculate uniform load on entire span (R1) acting on the top edge stiffener.
Consider top edge stiffener as a beam fixed both ends
• Top edge stiffener Imin=R1  b^4 /192  E  ta and select stiffener with I
more than I min calculated, however the stiffener angle shall not be less
than 2.5” x 2.5” x 0.25”
• Recalculate shell plate thickness, deflection Roark’s Case 1(d). Select
thickness (ta)
• Recheck top edge stiffener sizing (step-2.2)

Rectangular tank design 17

TYPE-3: Tank with Top Edge Stiffener and one
horizontal stiffener
Calculate uniform load on entire span of top edge stiffener R1 &
horizontal stiffener R2
• Calculate moment of Inertia required for stiffeners and select stiffener size
• Recalculate shell plate thickness, deflection Roark’s Case 1(d). Select
thickness (ta)
• Recheck stiffener sizing for latest plate thickness selected

Rectangular tank design 18

TYPE-4: Tank with Top Edge Stiffener and one or more
vertical stiffeners
• Calculate R1 and size top edge stiffener. Use length of tank “L” as
stiffener length [Do not use stiffener spacing “l” as length of stiffener]
• Calculate moment of Inertia required for stiffener and select stiffener.
Use height of tank as vertical stiffener length and uniformly increasing
loading on the vertical stiffener
• Recalculate shell plate thickness, deflection Roark’s Case 1(d). Select
thickness (ta)
• Recheck stiffener sizing for latest plate thickness selected

Rectangular tank design 19

TYPE-5: Top Tank with Top Edge Stiffener, one
horizontal primary stiffener and one or more vertical
secondary stiffener
Same as type-3 and calculate secondary vertical stiffener size
considering uniformly increasing load both ends fixed (Roark’s
case 2(d) Table-8; Wa = 0 & Wl = p). Alternatively, use same size as
primary horizontal stiffener without calculation

Rectangular tank design 20

TYPE-6: Tank with Top Edge Stiffener, one or more
vertical primary stiffeners and one or more horizontal
secondary stiffener
Same as type-4 and calculate secondary horizontal stiffener size
considering uniform load on entire span both ends fixed (Roark’s
case 2(d) Table-8; Wa=Wl). Alternatively, use same size as primary
horizontal stiffener without any calculation

Rectangular tank design 21

TYPE-7: Top Tank with Top Edge Stiffener and 2 or more
horizontal stiffeners
• Similar to type-3, however the loads on horizontal stiffeners are
calculated using reference [6].
• Calculate load (uniform load on entire span) on each stiffener R1, R2,
R3 etc. Refer Attachment for sample calculation.
• Calculate moment of Inertia required for each stiffener, select stiffener
• Recheck plate thickness & deflection Roark’s Case 1(d). Select
thickness (ta)
• Recheck stiffener sizing for latest plate thickness selected

Rectangular tank design 22

TYPE-8: Tank with Top Edge Stiffener, 2 or more
horizontal primary stiffeners and one or more vertical
secondary stiffener

Same as Type-7 and calculate secondary vertical stiffener

considering uniformly increasing load both ends fixed (Roark’s
case 2(d) Table-8). Alternatively, use same size as primary stiffener
without calculation.

Rectangular tank design 23

TYPE-9 Open Top Tank with Tie-rod supports
(For very large rectangular tanks, internal tie-rods can
be considered to reduce plate and stiffener size and
weight, if permitted for service or process requirements.
Internal baffles or partition plates can be considered as
tie rods/stiffeners)

Rectangular tank design 24

Top plate for Rectangular Tank
(common for all types of tanks)

► Design top plate, if applicable, [4 edges simply supported, uniform

load over entire plate - Roark’s Case 1 (a)] Loads to be considered
self weight, maintenance load, snow load etc. Use 2000 kg/m2, as a
default uniformly distributed load on entire surface of top plate and
add internal pressure if any.
► Provide stiffener for top plate by connecting all vertical stiffeners,
as a default. This is mainly required for transfer of load from
vertical stiffener, unless special stiffener arrangement is designed.
► Check bottom plate thickness for maximum un-stiffened area

Rectangular tank design 25

Bottom plate and Base Frame for Rectangular Tank
(common for all types of tanks)

• Provide base frame covering all 4 sides of the tank

• Consider simply supported both ends for sizing the long side frame member and load
half of the maximum design weight UDL (uniformly distributed along the entire length),
provide same size for short side (no calculation is required for short side-conservative)
• Provide stiffeners for tank bottom plate (connecting long side members of base frame)
load may be calculated (W = p x spacing) kg/mm (uniformly distributed load/unit length).
Stiffener size can be of smaller than outer base frame member size
• If required, provide additional stiffeners in perpendicular direction (smaller in size than
outer base frame member size) in order to reduce the bottom plate thickness.
• Check bottom plate thickness for maximum un-stiffened area - Roark case 1(a) Table-26
• Minimum thickness shall be 0.25” (6 mm) plus corrosion allowance, if entire surface of
the bottom plate is supported.

Rectangular tank design 26

Base Frame (common for all types of tanks)

Rectangular tank design 27

Additional points for advanced design (Future)
► Combined effect of plate and stiffeners (limits 10 times plate thickness)
► Selection of primary stiffeners (vertical or horizontal) based on tank size and
dimensions, relation between tank length-L and Height-H
► Bolted rectangular tanks, bolted top plate
► Consideration of design pressure, usually a small pressure like 0.05 bar
► Loading: seismic, transportation, wave etc.
► Top plate loading 2000 kg/sq.m
► Nozzle loading
► Lifting lugs, lifting analysis
► Spacing of horizontal stiffeners (unequal, increasing spacing from bottom to top)
► Weight estimation, optimization of weight, plate thickness, stiffener size/spacing etc.
► Types of loading UDL, uniformly increasing loading
► Welding of stiffeners to plate and end connections; Welding of plates

Rectangular tank design 28

Practical tips
• Preferred type of welded joints (corner weld joining shell plates)
• Stiffener arrangements
• Do not extrapolate the design procedure of one type to other type
without proper consideration
• Un-stiffened tanks may not be larger than 30 ft3 (0.85 m3)
• Un-stiffened tank size (any side) may not exceed 3 ft (0.9 m)
• For using Roark’s formula 2(d) in table 8 (both ends fixed), the tank
shall have adequate stiffeners and all tank corners shall have
stiffener/framed structure. Stiffeners shall be continuous and
interconnected at the ends
• Do not use Roark’s formula 8(d) in table 11 (rectangular tank fixed all
edges, uniformly decreasing load parallel to side b), unless stiffeners
and frame are very rigid

Rectangular tank design 29

Practical tips (continued)

Rectangular tank design 30

Rectangular tank design 31
Practical tips (continued)

Rectangular tank design 32

Summary - Rectangular tank types and design references

Rectangular tank design 33

References:
1. Eugene F.Megyesy, Pressure Vessel Handbook, Pressure Vessel
Publishing Inc., 12th Edition 2001 (Check for latest edition)
2. Kanti K Mahajan, Design of Process Equipment, Pressure Vessel
Handbook Publishing, Inc. Third Edition 1990 (Check for latest
edition)
3. Kanti K Mahajan, A method for designing rectangular storage
tanks, Chemical Engineering, March 28, 1977 pp 107-112
4. Warren C. Young, Richard G. Budynas. Roark’s Formulas for
Stress & Strain, 7th Edition
5. Omer W. Blodgett, Design of welded Structures, The James
F.Lincln Arc Welding Foundation, Fifteenth Printing March-1996
6. M.Starczewski, Non-Circular Pressure Vessels – Some guidance
notes for designers, British Engine Technical Report 1981 Volume
XIV pp 62-88

Rectangular tank design 34

Rectangular tank design 35