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Sloshing Effects in Tanks Containing Liquid

Article  in  MATEC Web of Conferences · May 2017

DOI: 10.1051/matecconf/201710700069

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MATEC Web of Conferences 107, 00069 (2017) DOI: 10.1051/ matecconf/201710700069
DYN-WIND'2017

Sloshing effects in tanks containing liquid

Martin Sivý1,*, Miloš Musil1, Ondrej Chlebo1 and René Havelka1
1Institute
of Applied Mechanics and Mechatronics, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,
Slovak University of Technology, Námestie slobody 17, 812 31 Bratislava, Slovakia

Abstract. Dynamic analysis of a tank containing liquid is a complex

problem involving fluid-structure interaction. The tank-liquid system is
simplified by an equivalent model in which the total liquid mass is divided
into two zones – impulsive and convective. The paper is primary focused on
the behavior of the free liquid surface (the convective portion of liquid)
subjected to the dynamic loading which may result in liquid spilling or tank
wall damage. Therefore, the sufficient freeboard must be required to design.
The paper deals with the seismic design of the open cylindrical liquid storage
tank with the aim to determine convective dynamic properties (natural
frequencies and modes of oscillation), maximum vertical displacements
over tank radius and overall response of the liquid to an earthquake. The
analysis is performed analytically by applying procedures for the
determination of convective effects based on simplified equivalent spring-
mass model, numerically response spectrum, and method of motion
integrating equations utilizing ANSYS Multiphysics.

1 Introduction
Cylindrical tanks or pressure vessels are commonly used in the power and processing
industries. They can be employed as storage vessels for various liquids (from non-flammable,
nontoxic liquids to highly volatile, toxic chemicals with explosive nature). The ordinary
operation of tank-liquid systems may be influenced by seismic loading which can threaten
the safety and integrity of these structures. During a seismic event, time-dependent
hydrodynamic forces, pressures and stresses are induced by the liquid on the tank walls and
bottom. Knowledge of hydrodynamic effects is essential since they influence the response of
the tank and must be considered in the design. The procedures for evaluation of these effects
are covered in international, national standards and/or guidelines (e.g. API 650, Eurocode 8).
Earthquake damage to steel storage tanks can come in several forms. One of the
phenomena observed at the free liquid surface is a sloshing effect of the upper (convective)
portion of the liquid. Oscillation of the convective liquid in the storage tanks may result in
negative effects such as deformations and ruptures of the tank walls due to impact [1]. In
addition, when open tanks are subjected to ground motions, sloshing may lead to liquid
spillage. Therefore, the sufficient freeboard (clearance) between the free surface and the top
of the tank or the roof must be provided.

*
Corresponding author: martin.sivy@stuba.sk

© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
MATEC Web of Conferences 107, 00069 (2017) DOI: 10.1051/ matecconf/201710700069
DYN-WIND'2017

2 Basic concept
Past earthquakes and their destructive consequences led to a huge effort to describe the
response of the tank-liquid systems when subject to dynamic excitation resulting to
provisions and recommendations for earthquake resistance to prevent negative effects to
people, environment, operation, etc. Based on analytical and experimental studies of G. W.
Housner [2], A. S. Veletsos [3], P. K. Malhotra [4] and others, procedures for the evaluation
of seismic characteristics for liquid storage tanks were formulated.
In calculations of the seismic effects, simple equivalent mechanical models are used to
investigated tank-liquid systems. The most widely used model adopted in various
international codes (e.g. in [5]) is the one based on spring-mass modeling proposed for rigid
tanks by G. W. Housner [2] which was later modified and extended for flexible tanks.
In the simplified model (Fig. 1a) the total liquid is divided into two parts – the impulsive
liquid, located near the tank base which moves with (and deforms) the tank walls, and the
convective liquid which represents sloshing of the free surface and oscillates independently
of the tank wall. The impulsive portion of the liquid is represented by a respective mass 
rigidly attached to the tank wall, whereas the convective part is described by an infinite
number of masses  flexibly attached by a spring of appropriate stiffness  . Each of the
convective masses represents another slosh mode of the free liquid surface. In addition to
spring-mass models, the convective portion of liquid can be replaced by another system, e.g.
a system of simple pendulums (Fig. 1b), each of mass  and length  . All necessary
parameters for the description of equivalent models can be found in [5, 6].

Fig. 1. Equivalent simplified spring-mass and pendulum mechanical models.

3 Liquid sloshing effects

In this chapter, we will focus on the determination of dynamic properties (natural frequencies,
modes of oscillation and sloshing wave height) analytically using procedures introduced in
[3-5] and by seismic response of the convective liquid portion to earthquake load utilizing
numerical analysis based on finite element method in ANSYS Multiphysics.
The investigated model is a flexible (steel) ground-supported liquid storage tank fixed to
the rigid foundation of a circular cross-section of radius R (5 m), height H (5 m) and uniform
wall thickness t (0.005 m). The tank is filled with water to a height of HL (4 m).
In the FEM formulation, a tank is modeled by structural shell elements (SHELL181);
liquid is represented by fluid elements based on Lagrange’s formulation (FLUID80). At
the interface between structural and fluid elements it is necessary to define the coupling of
tank and liquid displacements.

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MATEC Web of Conferences 107, 00069 (2017) DOI: 10.1051/ matecconf/201710700069
DYN-WIND'2017

3.1 Convective natural frequencies and modes of oscillation

The motion of the convective portion of liquid can be expressed as a linear combination of
the corresponding natural modes of oscillation. Each respective mode is associated with
vertical displacements and is described analytically by the Helmholtz equation. The solution
for each slosh mode of a circular liquid storage tank with radius R is proportional to

, =
 ,  cos  (1)


which varies towards the circumference by cos .

 represents a Bessel function of the first
kind and nth order and , are values for which the first derivative of
 are zero.
The natural frequency of the convective portion of liquid for the slosh mode of oscillation
can be calculated as

  
(, ) = , tanh ,  (2)
  

Using Eq. (1) and Eq. (2), it is possible to calculate any convective mode of oscillation at
the free liquid surface and its respective natural frequency. In international standards, only
the vertical displacements antisymmetric about the axis of rotation (one nodal diameter) can
be calculated, i.e. the Bessel function of the first order is employed.
Fig. 2 presents the selected convective modes of oscillation for investigation of the tank
model determined by Eq. (1) at frequencies calculated by Eq. (2). Based on results from
seismic analyses of liquid storage tanks introduced in other publications of the authors, e.g.
[7, 8], a good correlation of natural convective frequencies and modes of oscillation between
analytical and numerical calculations (using FEM in ANSYS Multiphysics) is shown.

Fig. 2. Convective modes of oscillation and respective natural frequencies.

3.2 Sloshing response to seismic excitation

The natural frequencies of convective liquid are low in comparison with the impulsive
portion of the liquid whose modes of oscillation are characterized by higher frequencies.
Thus, the convective liquid is imparted to low acceleration but experiences high
deformations, whereas impulsive liquid experiences high acceleration and low deformations
during ground motion [9]. The convective liquid causes the sloshing motion and it does not
contribute to a significant pressure component to the total hydrodynamic pressure.
For the seismic input, data recorded from the Parkfield California earthquake with a PGA
of 4.25 m/s2 at 7.52 s was used. Acceleration time-history of the earthquake and its response
spectrum for proportional damping of 0.5% (liquid), 2% (steel or pre-stressed concrete
structures) and 5% (concrete and masonry structures) are presented in Fig. 3.

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MATEC Web of Conferences 107, 00069 (2017) DOI: 10.1051/ matecconf/201710700069
DYN-WIND'2017

Fig. 3. Parkfield California earthquake.

3.2.1 Sloshing wave height

Introduced by A. S. Veletsos [3], the vertical displacement of free liquid surface due to
sloshing may be analytically calculated from the following expression
&
 %! !," ' -. (/0(!,") )
(, , ) =  ∑1
, 2 # $ % * cos  (3)
!," ! !," + 

where 3 ( ) is a convective spectral acceleration for a mode of oscillation corresponding to

a natural frequency from a specific elastic response spectrum.
In codes aimed at tank-liquid systems design for earthquake resistance, the calculation of
the sloshing wave height is reduced for specifying the maximum height at the edge by
assuming only the first mode of oscillation. Fig. 4 presents the maximum vertical
displacements of the tank model along the radius assuming only the (1,1) natural mode. Using
Eq. (3), the peak value of the sloshing wave at the edge is 0.37 m.

Fig. 4. Sloshing wave height.

3.2.2 Response spectrum method

One of the most common methodologies for describing the behavior of a linear structural
system subject to seismic excitation is by performing a response spectrum modal analysis. It
is often used instead of a time-history analysis to determine the response to time-dependent
loading.

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MATEC Web of Conferences 107, 00069 (2017) DOI: 10.1051/ matecconf/201710700069
DYN-WIND'2017

The equation of motion for the MDOF system subject to earthquake ground acceleration
4̈ 6 () is written as

78̈ () + :8̇ () + <8() = −7>4̈ 6 () (4)

where 7, : and < are mass, damping and stiffness matrices; 8, 8̇ , 8̈ are the displacement,
velocity and acceleration vectors and d is the excitation direction vector (direction cosines).
Using modal transformation

8() = ∑A2 @A wA () (5)

multiplying by @CB and application of appropriate orthogonality conditions, Eq. (4) can be
written as several uncoupled equations of motion representing a set of SDOF systems

ẅA () + 2ωA ξA ẇA () + ωA wA () = −GA 4̈ 6 () (6)

in which GA represents a participation factor for a given excitation direction

γA = @CA 7> (7)

This procedure is applied only when the time histories of all the modal displacement vectors
in all the modes are known.
The overall relative displacement for each mode of oscillation can be expressed by
LM -NM
8A IJK = @A (8)
O#
M

where PA represents the spectral acceleration for the ith mode obtained from the response
spectrum of a recorded earthquake. For evaluation of the overall response, individual
responses are combined by a proper combination method (e.g., SRSS, GRP, CQC, etc.).
For computation of response of the free liquid surface, single-point response spectrum
analysis is performed. The tank-liquid system is excited with a corresponding response
spectrum for 0.5% proportional damping of the Parkfield California earthquake record (Fig.
3) in the x-direction. Based on results from the modal analysis, SRSS method is used for the
combination of maximum modal responses. This combination rule is used due to closely
spaced modes of oscillation. Fig. 5 presents the overall response of the tank-liquid system to
the response spectrum. The maximum response of the liquid-structure system is 0.349 m.

Fig. 5. Sloshing response of the tank corresponding to response spectrum.

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MATEC Web of Conferences 107, 00069 (2017) DOI: 10.1051/ matecconf/201710700069
DYN-WIND'2017

3.2.3 Method of integrating of motion equations

Integration of motion equations is a method used in a time-history analysis. This analysis is
a universal technique used to determine the response of the structures subjected to any time-
dependent loading. The commonly used numerical integration method for evaluating the
dynamic response of a structures is the Newmark’s implicit method (more e.g. in [10, 11]).
The system of equations of motion of a MDOF system is

78̈ () + :8̇ () + <8() = Q() (9)

where Q() is the applied external load. Inthe case of the seismic excitation, the force Q()
is replaced in Eq. (9) by−74̈  ().
Applying the Newmark’s procedure, Eq. (9) is transformed into its static equivalent
R 8STUS = QVSTUS
< (10)
R represents the effective stiffness and QVSTUS the effective load vector which are
where <
 X
R=
< 7+ :+< (11)
WUS # WYS

  
QVSTUS = QSTUS + 7  8S + 8̇ S +  − 1 8̈ S  +
WUS # WUS W

X X US X
+ : 8S +  − 1 8̇ S +  − 2 8̈ S  (12)
WUS W  W

in which [, \ represent Newmark’s integration parameters which influence accuracy and

stability of the algorithm (average acceleration method, linear acceleration method).
Eq. (10) can be easily solved. To achieve correct results, the choice of the integration time
step is important and depends on the integration method. If seismic excitation is applied, the
integration step should not be shorter than the interval of the input acceleration data [11].
To evaluate the time-dependent sloshing response of the convective liquid, the
acceleration time-history of the Parkfield California earthquake (Fig. 3) in the x-direction is
applied. Fig. 6 presents the maximum sloshing response of the tank storing water. This
maximum vertical displacement of 0.3397 m occurs at the edge of the tank at time 10.16 sec.

Fig. 6. Sloshing response of the tank to earthquake excitation.

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MATEC Web of Conferences 107, 00069 (2017) DOI: 10.1051/ matecconf/201710700069
DYN-WIND'2017

4 Conclusions
The intention of this contribution was to perform a seismic analysis of the liquid storage tank
focusing on the sloshing response to a given earthquake loading. Generating of sloshing
waves during ground motions represents unfavourable conditions which impacts the top and
the walls within closed tanks or can result in the liquid spilling when open tanks are
considered. A minimum freeboard is desired to prevent these negative effects. Insufficient
freeboard leads to increase of impulsive mass due to the constraining action of the roof and
upward load due to impacts generating the forces, which can break the connections between
the tank and head. It may lead to buckling of the tank at the base if the loading from the
additional impulsive mass was not considered in the design.
The convective response was determined analytical with respect to international
standards, subsequently the response was calculated by FE software in ANSYS Multiphysics
in which response spectrum and time-history analysis were performed. The results obtained
between each solution of the dynamic analyses represented good conformity.

This work was supported by the grant from the Grant Agency of VEGA no. 1/0742/15 entitled Analysis
for Seismic Resistance of Liquid Storage Tanks with Nonlinear and Time-Dependent Parameters, by
the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract no. APVV-15-0630 Extension of the
Validity of the Computation Standards for the Seismically Resistant Liquid Storage Tanks, in terms of
Safety at NPPs and Other Industrial Areas and by the STU Grant scheme for Support of Young
Researchers entitled Design and Optimization of the Measuring Equipment for Vibration Tests.

References
1. K. Malhotra, M. Eeri, Earthquake Spectra 21, 4 (2005)
2. G. W. Housner, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 47, 1 (1987)
3. A. S. Veletsos, Seismic Response and Design of Liquid Storage Tanks, Guidelines for
the Seismic Design of Oil and Gas Pipeline Systems (Technical Council on Lifeline
Earthquake Engineering ASCE, 1984)
4. P. K. Malhotra, T. Wenk, M. Wieland, Struct. Eng. Int. 10, 3 (2000)
5. EN 1998-4, Eurocode 8 – Design of Structures for Earthquakes Resistance, Part 4 –
Silos, Tanks and Pipelines (2006)
6. R. A. Ibrahim, Liquid Sloshing Dynamics Theory and Applications (Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 2005)
7. M. Sivy, M. Musil, Procedure for Seismic Analysis of Liquid Storage Tanks using FEM
Approach and Analytical Models, Advances in Mechanism Design II: Proceedings of
the XII International Conference on the Theory of Machines and Mechanisms (Springer,
Liberec, 2017)
8. M. Sivy, M. Musil, Stroj. cas. – J. of Mech. Eng. 66, 2 (2016)
9. P. K. Malhotra, P. Nimse, M. Meekins, Struct. Eng. Int. 24, 4 (2014)
10. A. K. Gupta, Response Spectrum Method in Seismic Analysis and Design of Structures
(Blackwell Scientific Publications, Boston, 1990)
11. M. N. Fardis, E. C. Carvalho, P. Fajfar, A. Pecker, Seismic Design of Concrete Buildings
to Eurocode 8 (CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2015)

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