Effect of Earthquake Characteristics on Seismic Performance of RC Elevated Water Tanks Considering Fluid Level within the Vessels

Abstract

The dynamic behavior of a liquid storage tank as a special structure differs from that of general structures. Important structures of cylindrical shape are used to store vital products, such as water and petroleum products, for cities and industrial facilities. Damage to these structures during a strong ground motion may lead to fire or other hazardous events. Liquid storage tanks are lifeline structures and strategically very important, since they have vital use in industries and nuclear power plants. In this research, an example reinforced concrete (RC) elevated water tank, with 900 cubic meters capacity, is studied under three pairs of earthquake records and analyzed in time history by using mechanical and finite element modeling techniques. The liquid mass of the tank is modeled as lumped masses known as sloshing mass, impulsive mass and rigid mass. The corresponding stiffness constants associated with these lumped masses are worked out depending upon the properties of the tank wall and liquid mass. Tank responses including base shear, overturning moment, tank displacement, and sloshing displacement under these three pairs of earthquake records are calculated, and then the results are compared and contrasted. Results show that the system responses are highly influenced by the structural parameters and the earthquake characteristics, such as frequency content.

TLD optimal vibration control for elevated concrete water towers

“…Cheng et al [1][2][3] theoretically studied the liquid-soil interaction (LSI) vibration characteristics and seismic response of rectangular liquid storage. Shakib and Omidinasab [4] studied the seismic behaviors of elevated concrete water towers under different liquid heights and different seismic loads. Livaoglu [5] studies showed that the soil-structure interaction and the structural properties of supporting system for the elevated tanks affected the sloshing response of the fluid inside the vessel.…”

Seismic Fragility of Aging Elevated Water Tank with Smooth Bars Considering Soil Structure Interaction

“…The seismic vulnerability of water supply systems has been widely studied so far [3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Likewise, the seismic performance of overhead water tanks built with and without seismic code provisions has been reported in the literature (see, for example, [10][11][12][13][14][15][16].…”

The effect of earthquake frequency content and soil structure interaction on the seismic behavior of concrete gravity dam-foundation-reservoir system

“…Their study analyzed the tank under various earthquake records (and thus different frequency contents) and concluded that frequency content affects the structure responses. Shakib and Omidinasab [16] studied the response of an elevated water storage tank under ground motions with different frequency contents. They found out that earthquakes with low-frequency contents affect the first convective mode more severely and result in large vertical displacements on the free surface of the water.…”