Shaking table test for assessing the seismic performance of semi-anchored steel water tanks

The seismic responses of steel water tanks are unconventional given their complex dynamic behavior and the sources of nonlinearity. Therefore, providing a reliable, finite-element model is instrumental in better understanding their dynamic behavior and improving the design conditions. This paper aims to evaluate the seismic performance of steel water tanks using shaking table tests and provide a finite-element reference model for simulating real-size, semi-anchored water tanks by conducting a series of large-scale tests in the Shaking Table Lab of the Sharif University of Technology (SUT). Since scaling the tank requires a difficult process involving changing the liquid density, this paper novelty lies in using the smallest real-size tank subjected to seismic motions. For this purpose, a full-scale tank is assembled in SUT's Shaking Table Lab per the Australian design code with some modifications. To evaluate the effect of water level on seismic performance, the test is conducted in four stages, each with a different ratio of water height to tank diameter. The stages are 0%, 30%, 50%, and 70%. To properly assess the effect of earthquake intensity on its seismic performance, the tank, undergoes three separate earthquake records in each stage, which are moderate, strong, and very strong levels of intensity. To further assess the performance of these tanks numerically and expand the results of the test, a finite-element model of the tank, water, and their interaction were also developed using Abaqus and then verified with the experimental data. Finally, the verified model is employed for evaluating the seismic performance of real-size steel tanks.

Automated summary

This paper evaluates the seismic performance of steel water tanks using shaking table tests and provides a finite-element reference model for simulating real-size water tanks. The study finds that the water level and earthquake intensity significantly affect the seismic performance of the tanks.