Seismic response of liquid-filled elevated tanks

The main focus of the current study is to evaluate the performance of elevated tanks under seismic loading. In this study, the finite element (FE) technique is used to investigate the seismic response of liquid-filled tanks. The fluid domain is modeled using displacement-based fluid elements. Both time history and modal analyses are performed on an elevated tank. Using the FE technique, impulsive and convective response components are obtained separately. Furthermore, the effect of tank wall flexibility and sloshing of the water free surface are accounted for in the FE analysis. In this study complexities associated with modeling of the conical shaped tanks are discussed. This study shows that the proposed finite element technique is capable of accounting for the fluid-structure interaction in liquid containing structures. Using this method, the study of liquid sloshing effects in tanks with complex geometries such as conical tanks is made possible. The results of this study show that the current practice predicts the response of elevated tanks with reasonable accuracy. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.