A simplified method for calculating the stress of a large storage tank wall

Abstract

With consideration of the influences from the constraint reaction of tank bottom plate to each shell course, a simplified long-short shell method was proposed to calculate the stress of a large storage tank wall. The first shell course was regarded as a short cylindrical shell while all the others as long cylindrical shells, and the analytic solution equations of shell stress were achieved by theory of plates and shells. With resistance stress-strain method, a field stress test was done on a 15×10 4 m 3 floating-roof oil tank during its water filling test, and the measured stress data are in good agreement with the calculation results obtained by this simplified calculation method for shell stress. Therefore, the simplified method can be adopted to calculate the shell stress of large storage tanks accurately.

Finite-element analysis of liquid-storage tank foundations using settlement difference as boundary condition

“…Analysed on the new 15 × 10 4 m 3 oil tank with external-floating roof mentioned above, the stresses of tank shell and bottom plate are measured in accordance with reference [5]. Table 3 shows the measured values of radial stress on the upper surface of bottom plate when fully filled.…”

FEM analysis of inspection manhole on large steel tanks

“…22 Therefore, Wu 23 and Chen et al. 24 suggest simpler methods of analysis for calculating the bottom or shell of the tank. As a different approach, Zick and McGrath 25 have done detailed theoretical research to understand the stresses in the wall of cylindrical tanks and suggested a variable shell calculation adopted by the API.…”

“…The second method is much easier to use, with a large number of simplifications, which significantly affects its precision, especially for large diameter tanks. 22 Therefore, Wu 23 and Chen et al 24 suggest simpler methods of analysis for calculating the bottom or shell of the tank. As a different approach, Zick and McGrath 25 have done detailed theoretical research to understand the stresses in the wall of cylindrical tanks and suggested a variable shell calculation adopted by the API.…”

Comparison of the shell design methods for cylindrical liquid storage tanks

“…Some researchers worked on dynamic effects related to earthquakes [9][10][11]. Chen et al worked on developing a simple method to calculate shell stress [12].…”