• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.361-371
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• 2010

Enhancement in the seismic buckling capacity of steel tanks caused by the addition of fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) retrofit layers attached to the outer walls of the steel tank is investigated. Three-dimensional non-linear finite element modeling is utilized to perform such analysis considering non linear material properties and non-linear large deformation large strain analysis. FRP composites which possess high stiffness and high failure strength are used to reduce the steel hoop stress and consequently improve the tank capacity. A number of tanks with varying dimensions and shell thicknesses are examined using FRP composites added in symmetric layers attached to the outer surface of the steel shell. The FRP shows its effectiveness in carrying part of the hoop stresses along with the steel before steel yielding. Following steel yielding, the FRP restrains the outward bulging of the tank and continues to resist higher hoop stresses. The percentage improvement in the ultimate base moment capacity of the tank due to the addition of more FRP layers is shown to be as high as 60% for some tanks. The percentage of increase in the tank moment capacity is shown to be dependent on the ratio of the shell thickness to the tank radius (t/R). Finally a new methodology has been explained to calculate the location of Elephant foot buckling and consequently the best location of FRP application.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.97-111
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• 2020

Cylindrical steel tanks are important components of industrial facilities. Their safety becomes a crucial issue since any failure may cause catastrophic consequences. The aim of the paper is to show the results of comprehensive FEM numerical investigation focused on the response of cylindrical steel tanks under mining tremors and moderate earthquakes. The effects of different levels of liquid filling, the influence of non-uniform seismic excitation as well as the aspects of diagnosis of structural damage have been investigated. The results of the modal analysis indicate that the level of liquid filling is really essential in the structural analysis leading to considerable changes in the shapes of vibration modes with a substantial reduction in the natural frequencies when the level of liquid increases. The results of seismic and paraseismic analysis indicate that the filling the tank with liquid leads to the substantial increase in the structural response underground motions. It has also been observed that the peak structural response values under mining tremors and moderate earthquakes can be comparable to each other. Moreover, the consideration of spatial effects related to seismic wave propagation leads to a considerable decrease in the structural response under non-uniform seismic excitation. Finally, the analysis of damage diagnosis in steel tanks shows that different types of damage may induce changes in the free vibration modes and values of natural frequencies.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.119-130
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• 2009

This paper reports results of the structural response of empty steel tanks under vertical ground motions. The tanks are modeled using a finite element discretization using shell elements, and the vertical motion is applied and analyzed using nonlinear dynamics. Several excitation frequencies are considered, with emphasis on those that may lead to resonance of the roof. The computational results illustrate that as the base motion frequency is tuned with the frequency of the first roof-mode of the tank, the system displays large-amplitude displacements. For frequencies away from such mode, small amplitude displacements are obtained. The effect of the height of the cylinder on the dynamic response of the tank to vertical ground motion has also been investigated. The vertical acceleration of the ground motion that induces significant changes in the stiffness of the tank was found to be almost constant regardless of the height of the cylinder.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.335-355
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• 2022

It's important to note that the number of studies on the lateral vibration of steel liquid storage tanks has been quite modest in the past. The aim of this research has to look at the variables that affect vibration of storage tanks and to highlight the characteristics of a construction that hasn't received much attention in the literature. The storage tank has pre-sized in the study, and aluminum and steel have chosen as components. The specified material qualities and the factors utilized in the investigation has used to calculate vibration frequency values. The resulting calculations are backed up by tables and graphs, and it's an important to look into the parameters that affect the vibration frequencies that will occur on the designed storage tank vary. In the literature, water tanks are usually modelled as lumped masses. The horizontal stiffness of the column on which it is placed is assumed to be constant throughout. This is an approximation method of solving this problem. The column is handled in this study with a more realistic approach that fits the continuum mechanics in the analysis. The reservoir part is incorporated directly into the problem as the boundary condition.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.195-202
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• 2016

In this study, it is carried out to analyze the international design standards such as Eurocode 8, API 650, NZSEE and etc for the seismic design of steel liquid storage tanks. From the comparison and analysis, the data for the required parameters and factors are provided for the establishment of Korean seismic design standard for steel liquid storage tanks. The simplified mechanical models have been presented for the seismic design of steel liquid storage tanks in all design standards and the parameters of mechanical models in design standards have similar values. Although the models for the seismic design of steel liquid storage tanks are similar in design standards, design approaches are given differently in accordance with the design methods, allowable stress design or limit state design. Therefore it is not easy to compare seismic forces presented in design standards directly. After comparison of design standards, it is concluded that establishment of Korean design standard for the seismic design of steel liquid storage tanks is necessary.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.325-342
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• 2005

This paper deals with the buckling behavior of thin-walled aboveground tanks under wind load. In order to do that, the wind pressures are obtained by means of wind-tunnel experiments, while the structural non linear response is computed by means of a finite element discretization of the tank. Wind-tunnel models were constructed and tested to evaluate group effects in tandem configurations, i.e. one or two tanks shielding an instrumented tank. Pressures on the roof and on the cylindrical part were measured by pressure taps. The geometry of the target tank is similar in relative dimensions to typical tanks found in oil storage facilities, and several group configurations were tested with blocking tanks of different sizes and different separation between the target tank and those blocking it. The experimental results show changes in the pressure distributions around the circumference of the tank for half diameter spacing, with respect to an isolated tank with similar dimensions. Moreover, when the front tank of the tandem array has a height smaller than the target tank, increments in the windward pressures were measured. From the computational analysis, it seems that the additional stiffness provided by the roof prevents reductions in the buckling load for cases even when increments in pressures develop in the top region of the cylinder.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1992.10a
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• pp.61-66
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• 1992

The present paper deals with the optimum design of reinforced concrete cylindrical shell tanks in according to ACI 318-89 code. The purpose of this investigation is to find the optimum values of the steel ratio and the effective thickness of reinforced concrete cylindrical shell tanks. The analysts is carried out using a simple computer programming, SMAP(segmented matrix analysis package). The optimization is carried out using GINO programming. Optimum results for cylindrical shell tanks with uniform, stepwise and piecewise linealy varying thicknesses are presented.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.86-93
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• 2018

Recently, the use of composite steel plate concrete structural modules filled with concrete between steel plates of complex internal structure, in which a large amount of studs are installed, is increasing in order to reduce the weight and to increase workability of structures such as LNG storage tanks. However, in Korea, there is no systematic criterion for evaluating the construction performance of composite steel plate concrete structural modules. Therefore, in this study, we propose a filling guideline of concrete for composite steel plate structural module. For this purpose, high filling performance concrete with general strength range was formulated and tested for filling ability and permeability for each formulation. Rheology analysis was performed to quantitatively evaluate the flow characteristics of concrete. The reliability of $T_{500}$ and plastic viscosity was evaluated to reflect the results of each test, and a guideline for high filling concrete satisfying the reliability of 0.9 or more was derived by reflecting the results of the study on the relationship between the $T_{500}$ and plastic viscosity. Through final fill-box test, filling performance was verified and guidelines were suggested.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.19-28
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• 1999

While the codifying works or the earthquake resistant design codes for buildings and bridges have been carried out progressively, such works for tank structures are still at the beginning steps. In case of the collapse of tank structures under seismic actions, substantially severe damages are expected due to the spillage of tank contents in addition to the direct economic losses of tanks and contents. Therefore not only the analysis and verification methods for the dynamic behavior of tank structures but also the measures of minimizing the damage propagation should be included in the codes for tank structures. In this paper the design concepts and principles, the analysis and verification methods as well as the measures against the damage propagation are set forth, which are mandatory for the preparation of the earthquake resistant design codes for cylindrical liquid-storage steel tanks.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.23-44
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• 2007

Wind tunnel experiments on small scale groups of tanks are reported in the paper, with the aim of evaluating the pressure patterns due to group effects. A real tank configuration is studied in detail because one tank buckled during a hurricane category 3. Three configurations are studied in a wind tunnel, two with several tanks and different wind directions, and a third one with just one blocking tank. The pressures were measured in the cylindrical part and in the roof of the tank, in order to obtain pressure coefficients. Next, computational buckling analyses were carried out for the three configurations to evaluate the buckling pressure of the target structure. Finally, imperfection-sensitivity was investigated for one of the configurations, and moderate sensitivity was found, with reductions in the maximum load of the order of 25%. The results help to explain the buckling of the tank for the levels of wind experienced during the hurricane.