Sloshing Response of Water Tanks Under Seismic Excitation

Abstract

Liquid storage tanks are the predominant structures and they have to be designed to withstand major earthquake loads. In the present study, an elevated intze water tank of capacity 700 m 3 was considered and analyzed for seismic effects. Finite element modeling of the tank was made in ANSYS. A series of transient analyses was carried out for El Centro and Kobe earthquakes which are applied in the horizontal direction. The fluid inside the tank accelerates and causes additional hydrodynamic pressures on the tank. Past studies reveal that the convective hydrodynamic pressure is more than the impulsive hydrodynamic pressure. Time history plots were made to describe the sloshing phenomenon in the tank for various levels of the liquid. The sloshing displacements for the one-third level of the liquid were found to be maximum. The sloshing displacements in the horizontal direction are more than in the vertical direction.