Numerical Modelling of Liquid Containing Structure under Dynamic Loading

Abstract

Abstract Liquid containing tanks (LCTs) are used in water distribution systems and in the industry for storing water, toxic and flammable liquids and are expected to be functional after severe earthquakes. The failure of a large tank during seismic excitation has implications far beyond the economic value of the tanks and their contents. Then seismic design becomes a high necessity for this type of structure. However, tanks differ from buildings in two ways: first, during seismic excitation, the liquid inside the tank exerts a hydrodynamic force on tank walls, base, and roof in addition to the hydrostatic forces. Second, LCTs are generally required to remain watertight. Many current standards and guidelines such as ACI 350.3-06, ACI 371R-08, ASCE7, API650, EUROCODE8 and NZSEE 1986 code, cover seismic designs which are based primarily on theoretical analysis. This analysis is still not enough to fully describe the behavior of this structure under seismic oscillation noting that the theoretical analysis is based on a linear model and two dimensional spaces. So the focus of this study is to measure two important dynamic parameters which are the natural period and the maximum sloshing height of the water under harmonic motion by conducting an experimental investigation and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation. Open-foam is the numerical tool chosen in this study. There is currently no study done with this tool to measure the behavior of the water inside a square tank neither under seismic motion nor harmonic oscillation.Finally, a comparison between the experimental, the analytical and the numerical results will be presented to confirm the level of validity of each method. Then a conclusion is made to summarize this research and to propose future works.