Seismic performance of a floating roof in an unanchored broad storage tank: Experimental tests and numerical simulations

Abstract

Liquid steel storage tanks equipped with floating roofs are critical components of industrial facilities because they often store hazardous material. In the past, major earthquakes have caused large vertical displacements of floating roofs. Consequently, roof failure and/or content loss has occurred, which has seriously endangered the surrounding environment and community. Therefore, research interest in this topic remains high, giving rise to experimental campaigns and investigatory studies concerning both design and assessment approaches. Along these lines, the first part of this paper briefly introduces a shaking table test performed on a scaled steel storage tank equipped with a floating roof. This test provided useful experimental data about the vertical displacement histories of floating roofs subject to seismic loading. Subsequently, a simplified model and a refined finite element model aimed at simulating the shaking table test program are introduced and described. Relevant experimental and numerical outcomes are then presented and discussed. Finally, we performed a parametric study related to the simplified model to highlight the most relevant parameters involved. It is shown that both the refined finite element model and the simplified model were capable of simulating the roof vertical displacement histories observed in the shaking table test. The former model has higher fidelity but appears to be excessively time-consuming, whilst the latter is more suitable for risk assessment purposes.

Experimental Investigation on the Effect of Seal Presence on the Behavior of Double-Deck Floating Roofs in Cylindrical Steel Storage Tanks

“…In this study, the effect of floating roof type, insulation layer thickness, and solar radiation was investigated [23]. Also, presenting computational methods for numerical modeling of evaporation of petroleum products and vapor diffusion in an unsteady operating state, investigation of dynamic response of polyuria coated steel tanks under blast loading, assessment of seismic performance of floating roofs without connection in oil storage tanks, and evaluation of fire effect full-scale gasoline tanks with floating roofs have been assessed in more recent research [24][25][26].…”