Tanks Lecture 3

Lecture 3
January 23, 2006

In this lecture
 Modeling of tanks
 Time period of tanks
 Sudhir K. Jain, IIT Kanpur E-Course on Seismic Design of Tanks/ January 2006 Lecture 3 / Slide 2
Modeling of tanks
 As seen in Lecture 1 liquid may be replaced by
impulsive and convective mass for calculation of
hydrodynamic forces
 See next slide for a quick review
Modeling of tanks
mi = Impulsive liquid mass
mc = Convective liquid mass
Kc/2 Kc/2
mc Kc = Convective spring stiffness
hi = Location of impulsive mass
(without considering overturnig
hc caused by base pressure)
Rigid m (hc*)
i
hc = Location of convective mass
hi
(without considering overturning
(hi*) caused by base pressure)
hi* = Location of impulsive mass
Mechanical analogue (including base pressure effect on
or overturning)
spring mass model of tank hc* = Location of convective mass
(including base pressure effect on
overturning)
Graphs and expression for these parameters are given in lecture 1.
Approximation in modeling
 Sometimes, summation of mi and mc may not be
equal to total liquid mass, m
 This difference may be about 2 to 3 %
 Difference arises due to approximations in the
derivation of these expressions
 More about it, later
 If this difference is of concern, then
 First, obtain mc from the graph or expression
 Obtain mi = m – mc
Tanks of other shapes
 For tank shapes such as Intze, funnel, etc. :
 Consider equivalent circular tank of same
volume, with diameter equal to diameter at the
top level of liquid
Example:
An Intze container has volume of 1000 m3. Diameter of
container at top level of liquid is 16 m. Find dimensions of
equivalent circular container for computation of
hydrodynamic forces.
Equivalent circular container will have diameter of 16 m

and volume of 1000 m3. Height of liquid, h can be obtained
as :
/4 x 162 x h = 1000
 h = 1000 x 4/( x 162) = 4.97 m
Thus, for equivalent circular container,

h/D = 4.97/16 = 0.31
All the parameters (such as mi, mc etc.) are to be
obtained using h/D = 0.31
16 m
16 m 4.97 m
Equivalent circular container

Intze container
volume = 1000 m3
Effect of obstructions inside tank
 Container may have structural elements inside
 For example: central shaft, columns supporting
the roof slab, and baffle walls
 These elements cause obstruction to lateral
motion of liquid
 This will affect impulsive and convective masses
 Effect of these obstructions on impulsive and

convective mass is not well studied
 A good research topic !
 It is clear that these elements will reduce
convective (or sloshing) mass
 More liquid will act as impulsive mass
 In the absence of detailed analysis, following

approximation may be adopted:
 Consider a circular or a rectangular container of
same height and without any internal elements
 Equate the volume of this container to net
volume of original container
 This will give diameter or lateral dimensions of container
 Use this container to obtain h/D or h/L
Example: A circular cylindrical container has internal

diameter of 12 m and liquid height of 4 m. At the center
of the tank there is a circular shaft of outer diameter of
2 m. Find the dimensions of equivalent circular
cylindrical tank.
12 m
4m
12 m
Hollow shaft of Plan
Elevation 2 m diameter
Solution:
Net volume of container = /4x(122 –22)x4 = 439.8 m3
Equivalent cylinder will have liquid height of 4 m and its
volume has to be 439.8 m3.
Let D be the diameter of equivalent circular cylinder, then
/4xD2x4 = 439.8 m3
 D = 11.83 m
Thus, for equivalent circular tank, h = 4 m, D = 11.83m
and h/D = 4/11.83 = 0.34.
This h/D shall be used to find parameters of mechanical
model of tank
Effect of wall flexibility
 Parameters mi, mc etc. are obtained assuming

tank wall to be rigid
 An assumption in the original work of Housner
(1963a)
 Housner, G. W., 1963a, “Dynamic analysis of fluids in
containers subjected to acceleration”, Nuclear Reactors and
Earthquakes, Report No. TID 7024, U. S. Atomic Energy
Commission, Washington D.C.
 RC tank walls are quite rigid
 Steel tank walls may be flexible
 Particularly, in case of tall steel tanks
 Wall flexibility affects impulsive pressure distribution

 It does not substantially affect convective pressure
distribution
 Refer Veletsos, Haroun and Housner (1984)
 Veletsos, A. S., 1984, “Seismic response and design of liquid
storage tanks”, Guidelines for the seismic design of oil and gas
pipeline systems, Technical Council on Lifeline Earthquake
1Engineering, ASCE, N.Y., 255-370, 443-461.
 Haroun, M. A. and Housner, G. W., 1984, “Seismic design of liquid
storage tanks”, Journal of Technical Councils of ASCE, Vol. 107,
TC1, 191-207.
 Effect of wall flexibility on impulsive pressure depends
on
 Aspect ratio of tank
 Ratio of wall thickness to diameter
 See next slide
 Effect of wall flexibility on impulsive pressure distribution

h/D = 0.5
tw / D = 0.0005
tw / D = 0.0005
tw is wall thickness
z Rigid
h tank
Impulsive pressure on wall From Veletsos (1984)
 If wall flexibility is included, then mechanical

model of tank becomes more complicated
 Moreover, its inclusion does not change seismic
forces appreciably
 Thus, mechanical model based on rigid wall
assumption is considered adequate for design.
 All international codes use rigid wall model for

RC as well as steel tanks
 Only exception is NZSEE recommendation
(Priestley et al., 1986)
 Priestley, M J N, et al., 1986, “Seismic design of storage
tanks”, Recommendations of a study group of the New
Zealand National Society for Earthquake Engineering.
 American Petroleum Institute (API) standards,
which are exclusively for steel tanks, also use
mechanical model based on rigid wall
assumption
 API 650, 1998, “Welded storage tanks for oil storage”,
American Petroleum Institute, Washington D. C., USA.
Effect of higher modes
 mi and mc described in Lecture 1, correspond
to first impulsive and convective modes
 For most tanks ( 0.15 < h/D < 1.5) the first
impulsive and convective modes together
account for 85 to 98% of total liquid mass
 Hence, higher modes are not included
 This is also one of the reasons for summation of
mi and mc being not equal to total liquid mass
 For more information refer Veletsos (1984) and
Malhotra (2000)
 Malhotra, P. K., Wenk, T. and Wieland, M., 2000, “Simple
procedure for seismic analysis of liquid-storage tanks”,
Structural Engineering International, 197-201.
Modeling of ground supported tanks
 Step 1:
 Obtain various parameters of mechanical model
 These include, mi, mc, Kc, hi, hc, hi* and hc*
 Step 2:
 Calculate mass of tank wall (mw), mass of roof
(mt) and mass of base slab (mb)of container
 This completes modeling of ground supported
tanks
Modeling of elevated tanks
 Elevated tank consists of container and staging
Roof slab
Wall Container
Floor slab
Staging
Elevated tank
 Liquid is replaced by impulsive and convective

masses, mi and mc
 All other parameters such as hi, hc, etc, shall be
obtained as described earlier
 Lateral stiffness, Ks, of staging must be
considered
 This makes it a two-degree-of-freedom model
 Also called two mass idealization
mc
Kc/2 Kc/2
mc Kc
mi hc
hi
mi + ms
hs
Ks
Spring mass model Two degree of freedom system

OR
Two mass idealization of elevated tanks
 ms is structural mass, which comprises of :

 Mass of container, and
 One-third mass of staging
 Mass of container includes
 Mass of roof slab
 Mass of wall
 Mass of floor slab and beams
Two Degree of Freedom System
 2-DoF system requires solution of a 2 × 2 eigen

value problem to obtain
 Two natural time periods
 Corresponding mode shapes
 See any standard text book on structural
dynamics on how to solve 2-DoF system
 For most elevated tanks, the two natural time
periods (T1 and T2) are well separated.
 T1 generally may exceed 2.5 times T2.
Two Degree of Freedom System
 Hence the 2-DoF system can be treated as two

uncoupled single degree of freedom systems
 One representing mi +ms and Ks
 Second representing mc and Kc
mc
Kc mi + m s
mi + m s
Ks mc
Ks Kc
Two uncoupled
Two degree of freedom system single degree of freedom systems
when T1 ≥ 2.5 T2
 Priestley et al. (1986) suggested that this

approximation is reasonable if ratio of two time
periods exceeds 2.5
 Important to note that this approximation is
done only for the purpose of calculating time
periods
 This significantly simplifies time period calculation
 Otherwise, one can obtain time periods of 2-DoF
system as per procedure of structural dynamics.
 Steps in modeling of elevated tanks

 Step 1:
 Obtain parameters of mechanical analogue
 These include mi, mc, Kc, hi, hc, hi* and hc*
 Other tank shapes and obstructions inside the container shall
be handled as described earlier
 Step 2:
 Calculate mass of container and mass of staging
 Step 3:
 Obtain stiffness of staging
 Recall, in IS 1893:1984, convective mass is not

considered
 It assumes entire liquid will act as impulsive mass
 Hence, elevated tank is modeled as single
degree of freedom ( SDoF) system
 As against this, now, elevated tank is modeled
as 2-DoF system
 This 2-DoF system can be treated as two
uncoupled SDoF systems
 Models of elevated tanks
m +ms m = Total liquid mass

mi + ms
mc Ks
Ks
Kc
As per the Guideline As per IS 1893:1984
Example: An elevated tank with circular cylindrical

container has internal diameter of 11.3 m and water
height is 3 m. Container mass is 180 t and staging mass
is 100 t. Lateral stiffness of staging is 20,000 kN/m.
Model the tank using the Guideline and IS 1893:1984
Solution:
Internal diameter, D = 11.3 m, Water height, h = 3 m.
Container is circular cylinder,
 Volume of water = /4 x D2 x h
=  /4 x 11.32 x 3 = 300.9 m3.
 mass of water, m = 300.9 t.
h/D = 3/11.3 = 0.265

From Figure 2 of the Guideline, for h/D = 0.265:
mi/m = 0.31, mc/m = 0.65 and Kch/mg = 0.47
mi = 0.31 x m = 0.31 x 300.9 = 93.3 t

mc = 0.65 x m = 0.65 x 300.9 = 195.6 t
Kc = 0.47 x mg/h
= 0.47 x 300.9 x 9.81/3 = 462.5 kN/m
Mass of container = 180 t

Mass of staging = 100 t
Structural mass of tank, ms

= mass of container +1/3rd mass of staging
= 180 +1/3 x 100
= 213.3 t
Lateral stiffness of staging, Ks = 20,000 kN/m
mi + m s m + ms
Ks mc Ks
Kc
mi = 93.3 t, ms = 213.3 t, mc = 195.6 t, m = 300.9 t, ms = 213.3 t,

Ks = 20,000 kN/m, Kc = 462.5 kN/m Ks = 20,000 kN/m
Model of tank as per the Guideline Model of tank as per IS 1893:1984
Time period
 What is time period ?
 For a single degree of freedom system, time
period (T ) is given by
M
T  2
K
 M is mass and K is stiffness
 T is in seconds
 M should be in kg; K should be in Newton per
meter (N/m)
 Else, M can be in Tonnes and K in kN/m
Time period
 Mathematical model of tank comprises of

impulsive and convective components
 Hence, time periods of impulsive and convective
mode are to be obtained
Time period of impulsive mode
 Procedure to obtain time period of impulsive
mode (Ti) will be described for following three
cases:
 Ground supported circular tanks
 Ground supported rectangular tanks
 Elevated tanks
Ti for ground-supported circular tanks
 Ground supported circular tanks

 Time period of impulsive mode, Ti is given by:
h ρ  1 
Ti  Ci Ci   
t/D E  
 h/D 0.46  0.3h/D  0.067(h/D)2  

 = Mass density of liquid

E = Young’s modulus of tank material
t = Wall thickness
h = Height of liquid
D = Diameter of tank
 Ci can also be obtained from Figure 5 of the

Guidelines
10
6
C
C
i
4
C
c
0
0 0.5 h/D 1 1.5 2
 This formula is taken from Eurocode 8

 Eurocode 8, 1998, “Design provisions for earthquake
resistance of structures, Part 1- General rules and Part 4 –
Silos, tanks and pipelines”, European Committee for
Standardization, Brussels.
 If wall thickness varies with height, then
thickness at 1/3rd height from bottom shall be
used
 Some steel tanks may have step variation of wall
thickness with height
 This formula is derived based on assumption

that wall mass is quite small compared to liquid
mass
 More information on time period of circular
tanks may be seen in Veletsos (1984) and
Nachtigall et al. (2003)
 Nachtigall, I., Gebbeken, N. and Urrutia-Galicia, J. L., 2003, “On the
analysis of vertical circular cylindrical tanks under earthquake
excitation at its base”, Engineering Structures, Vol. 25, 201-213.
 It is important to note that wall flexibility is

considered in this formula
 For tanks with rigid wall, time period will be zero
 This should not be confused with rigid wall
assumption in the derivation of mi and mc
 Wall flexibility is neglected only in the evaluation
of impulsive and convective masses
 However, wall flexibility is included while
calculating time period
 This formula is applicable to tanks with fixed

base condition
 i.e., tank wall is rigidly connected or fixed to the
base slab
 In some circular tanks, wall and base have
flexible connections
 Ground supported tanks with flexible base are

described in ACI 350.3 and AWWA D-110
 ACI 350.3, 2001, “Seismic design of liquid containing
concrete structures”, American Concrete Institute,
Farmington Hill, MI, USA.
 AWWA D-110, 1995, “Wire- and strand-wound circular,
prestressed concrete water tanks”, American Water Works
Association, Colorado, USA.
 In these tanks, there is a flexible pad between
wall and base
 Refer Figure 6 of the Guideline
Types of connections between tank wall and base slab
 Such tanks are perhaps not used in India
 Impulsive mode time period of ground

supported tanks with fixed base is generally
very low
 These tanks are quite rigid
 Ti will usually be less than 0.4 seconds
 In this short period range, spectral acceleration,
Sa/g has constant value
 See next slide
Impulsive mode time period of ground supported

tanks likely to remain in this range
Sa/g
Example: A ground supported steel tank has water

height, h = 25 m, internal diameter, D = 15 m and
wall thickness, t=15 mm. Find time period of
impulsive mode.
Solution: h = 25 m, D = 15 m, t = 15 mm.
For water, mass density,  = 1 t/m3.
For steel, Young’s modulus, E = 2x108 kN/m2.
h/D = 25/15 = 1.67. From Figure 5, Ci = 5.3
h ρ
Time period of impulsive mode, Ti  Ci
t/D E
25 1.0
Ti  5.3
0.015/15 2x108
= 0.30 sec
 Important to note that, even for such a slender tank of

steel, time period is low.
 For RC tanks and other short tanks, time period will be
further less.
 In view of this, no point in putting too much

emphasis on evaluation of impulsive mode time
period for ground supported tanks
 Recognizing this point, API standards have
suggested a constant value of spectral
acceleration for ground supported circular steel
tanks
 Thus, users of API standards need not find
impulsive time period of ground supported tanks
Ti for ground-supported rectangular tanks
 Ti for ground-supported rectangular tanks

 Procedure to find time period of impulsive mode
is described in Clause no. 4.3.1.2 of the
Guidelines
 This will not be repeated here
 Time period is likely to be very low and Sa/g will
remain constant
 As described earlier
 Hence, not much emphasis on time period
evaluation
Ti for Elevated tanks
 For elevated tanks, flexibility of staging is important
 Time period of impulsive mode, Ti is given by:
mi  ms 
Ti  2 OR T  2
Ks g
mi = Impulsive mass of liquid
ms = Mass of container and one-third mass of staging
Ks = Lateral stiffness of staging
= Horizontal deflection of center of gravity of tank when a
horizontal force equal to (mi + ms)g is applied at the
center of gravity of tank
 These two formulae are one and the same

 Expressed in terms of different quantities
 Center of gravity of tank refers to combined
mass center of empty container plus impulsive
mass of liquid
Example: An elevated tank stores 250 t of water. Ratio of

water height to internal diameter of container is 0.5.
Container mass is 150 t and staging mass is 90 t.
Lateral stiffness of staging is 20,000 kN/m. Find time
period of impulsive mode
Solution: h/D = 0.5, Hence from Figure 2a of the

Guideline, mi/m = 0.54;
 mi = 0.54 x 250 = 135 t
Structural mass of tank, ms
= mass of container + 1/3rd mass of staging
= 150 + 90/3 = 180 t
mi  ms
Time period of impulsive mode Ti  2
Ks
135  180
Ti  2
20,000
= 0.79 sec.
Lateral stiffness of staging, Ks
 Lateral stiffness of staging, Ks is force required
to be applied at CG of tank to cause a
corresponding unit horizontal deflection
CG
P  Ks = P/ 
 For frame type staging, lateral stiffness shall be

obtained by suitably modeling columns and
braces
 More information can be seen in Sameer and
Jain (1992, 1994)
 Sameer, S. U., and Jain, S. K., 1992, “Approximate methods
for determination of time period of water tank staging”,
The Indian Concrete Journal, Vol. 66, No. 12, 691-698.
 Sameer, S. U., and Jain, S. K., 1994, “Lateral load analysis
of frame staging for elevated water tanks”, Journal of
Structural Engineering, ASCE, Vol.120, No.5, 1375-1393.
 Some commonly used frame type staging
configurations are shown in next slide
Plan view of frame staging configurations
4 columns 6 columns 8 columns
9 columns 12 columns
24 columns 52 columns
 Explanatory handbook, SP:22 has considered

braces as rigid beams
 SP:22 – 1982, Explanatory Handbook on Codes for
Earthquake Engineering, Bureau of Indian Standards, New
Delhi
 This is unrealistic modeling
 Leads to lower time period
 Hence, higher base shear coefficient
 This is another limitation of IS 1893:1984
 Using a standard structural analysis software,
staging can be modeled and analyzed to
estimate lateral stiffness
 Shaft type staging can be treated as a vertical

cantilever fixed at base and free at top
 If flexural behavior is dominant, then
 Its stiffness will be Ks = 3EI/L3
 This will be a good approximation if height to
diameter ratio is greater than two
 Otherwise, shear deformations of shaft would
affect the stiffness and should be included.
Time period of convective mode
 Convective mass is mc and stiffness is Kc
 Time period of convective mode is:
m
T  2
c
c
K c
 mc and Kc for circular and rectangular tanks can

be obtained from graphs or expressions
 These are described in Lecture 1
 Refer Figures 2 and 3 of the Guidelines
 For further simplification, expressions for mc

and Kc are substituted in the formula for Tc
 Then one gets,
For circular tanks:
2
Tc  Cc D/g Cc 
3.68 tanh (3.68 h / D)
For rectangular tanks:

2
Tc  Cc L/g Cc 
3.16 tanh (3.16 (h / L))
 Graphs for obtaining Cc are given in Figures 5

and 7 of the Guidelines
 These are reproduced in next two slides
 Convective mass and stiffness are not affected
by flexibility of base or staging
 Hence, convective time period expressions are
common for ground supported as well as
elevated tanks
 Convective mode time periods are usually very
large
 Their values can be as high as 10 seconds
10
C
C
4
C
c
0
0 0.5 h/D 1 1.5 2
Fig. 5 For circular tanks
10
6
D
Cc
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
h/L
Fig. 7 For rectangular tanks
 Example: For a circular tank of internal diameter, 12 m

and liquid height of 4 m. Calculate time period of
convective mode.
Solution: h = 4 m, D = 12 m,
 h/D = 4/12 = 0.33
From Figure 5 of the Guidelines, Cc = 3.6
Time period of convective mode, Tc  Cc D/g
Tc  3.6 12/9.81
= 3.98 sec
At the end of Lecture 3
 Based on mechanical models, time period for
impulsive and convective modes can be
obtained for ground supported and elevated
tanks
 For ground supported tanks, impulsive mode
time period is likely to be very less
 Convective mode time period can be very large

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Lecture 3

January 23, 2006

Equivalent circular container will have diameter of 16 m

Thus, for equivalent circular container,

Equivalent circular container

 Effect of these obstructions on impulsive and

 In the absence of detailed analysis, following

Example: A circular cylindrical container has internal

 Parameters mi, mc etc. are obtained assuming

 Wall flexibility affects impulsive pressure distribution

 Effect of wall flexibility on impulsive pressure distribution

Impulsive pressure on wall From Veletsos (1984)

 If wall flexibility is included, then mechanical

 All international codes use rigid wall model for

 Liquid is replaced by impulsive and convective

Spring mass model Two degree of freedom system

 ms is structural mass, which comprises of :

 2-DoF system requires solution of a 2 × 2 eigen

 Hence the 2-DoF system can be treated as two

 Priestley et al. (1986) suggested that this

 Steps in modeling of elevated tanks

 Recall, in IS 1893:1984, convective mass is not

 Models of elevated tanks

m +ms m = Total liquid mass

As per the Guideline As per IS 1893:1984

Example: An elevated tank with circular cylindrical

h/D = 3/11.3 = 0.265

mi = 0.31 x m = 0.31 x 300.9 = 93.3 t

Mass of container = 180 t

Structural mass of tank, ms

mi = 93.3 t, ms = 213.3 t, mc = 195.6 t, m = 300.9 t, ms = 213.3 t,

Model of tank as per the Guideline Model of tank as per IS 1893:1984

 Mathematical model of tank comprises of

 Ground supported circular tanks

 = Mass density of liquid

 Ci can also be obtained from Figure 5 of the

 This formula is taken from Eurocode 8

 This formula is derived based on assumption

 It is important to note that wall flexibility is

 This formula is applicable to tanks with fixed

 Ground supported tanks with flexible base are

Types of connections between tank wall and base slab

 Such tanks are perhaps not used in India

 Impulsive mode time period of ground

Impulsive mode time period of ground supported

Example: A ground supported steel tank has water

 Important to note that, even for such a slender tank of

 In view of this, no point in putting too much

 Ti for ground-supported rectangular tanks

 These two formulae are one and the same

Example: An elevated tank stores 250 t of water. Ratio of

Solution: h/D = 0.5, Hence from Figure 2a of the

 For frame type staging, lateral stiffness shall be

4 columns 6 columns 8 columns

 Explanatory handbook, SP:22 has considered

 Shaft type staging can be treated as a vertical

 mc and Kc for circular and rectangular tanks can

 For further simplification, expressions for mc

For rectangular tanks:

 Graphs for obtaining Cc are given in Figures 5

Fig. 5 For circular tanks

Fig. 7 For rectangular tanks

 Example: For a circular tank of internal diameter, 12 m

Time period of convective mode, Tc  Cc D/g