Numerical Investigation on Buckling Response of Cylindrical Steel Storage Tanks Under Seismic Excitation

This paper presents the buckling response and vibration characteristic of the cylindrical steel liquid storage tanks filled with water when subjected to strong earthquake excitations. Finite element analysis (FEA) is performed by using ABAQUS software. The geometrically perfect tanks with different R/t and H/R ratios are considered for modal and linear seismic analysis. The modeling method, appropriate element type, and the necessary number of elements for numerical analysis are recommended. Field observations during past earthquakes and published experimental results are used to substantiate the accuracy of employed FEA. The accuracy of the current design guidelines is assessed based on the extensive parametric study. According to the results of the parametric study of the perfect tanks, the buckling strength decreases significantly as the radius‐to‐thickness ratio (R/t) increases. Furthermore, it decreases slightly as the height‐to‐diameter ratio (H/R) increases.