Author(s)

A. Dimas, N. Bazeos, S. Bousias, T. C. Triantafyllou & D. L. Karabalis

Abstract

A new discrete model is presented for the evaluation of the dynamic characteristics, i.e. eigenfrequencies and eigenmodes, of tanks of arbitrary shape and fill level. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed methodology is demonstrated via a number of comparison studies. The above discrete model is combined with structural and soil simulation models for the efficient dynamic analysis of 3-D tanks under earthquake excitation. The obtained results are in excellent agreement to those obtained using detailed analytical and FEM models. Keywords: discrete sloshing model, arbitrary geometry, arbitrary fill level, seismic excitation, dynamic fluid-structure-soil interaction. 1 Introduction The safe keeping and uninterrupted flow of liquids or liquid-like materials is of crucial and multifold importance to the industrialized world. Therefore, the interest on the seismic behaviour of modern structures used for storage of such materials has remained strong since the pioneering work of Lamb [1] and is periodically reinforced by the disruption caused by several seismic events, e.g. the 1964 Alaska earthquake. A simple, but accurate and efficient, methodology for the estimation of the hydrodynamic pressures exerted on the walls of a tank, was proposed in the pioneering work of Housner [2]. In these studies on nondeformable vertical prismatic tanks resting on rigid foundations, the solution describing the total hydrodynamic pressure was decomposed into two discrete parts: the \“impulsive” and the \“convective”. The impulsive pressure component is due to a portion of the liquid accelerating with the rigid tank, while the

Keywords

discrete sloshing model, arbitrary geometry, arbitrary fill level, seismic excitation, dynamic fluid-structure-soil interaction