Seismic response of cylindrical steel tanks considering fluid-structure interaction

The seismic response of a cylindrical steel liquid storage tank is examined in this paper using a coupling method that combined the finite elements and the boundary elements. To accurately evaluate the seismic response of the liquid storage tank, the coupled dynamic system, considering fluid-structure interaction effects and sloshing of the free surface, is formulated in the time domain. The finite elements for the structure and the boundary elements for the liquid are coupled using the equilibrium condition and the compatibility condition. The modal and seismic analysis results calculated using the proposed method are in reasonable agreement with published results. Consequently, a general numerical algorithm, which can analyze the dynamic responses of a cylindrical steel liquid storage tank, is developed in a three-dimensional coordinate system, and dynamic response analysis is performed.