The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Theoretical and experimental studies of cylindrical water tanks in base isolated structures

Chalhoub, Michel S.; Kelly, James M.

UCB/EERC-88/07, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1988-04, 82 pages (645/C45/1988)

This report presents the results obtained from an experimental study of two similar cylindrical water tanks and a corresponding theoretical solution. One of the tanks was directly fixed to an earthquake simulator; the other was mounted on the base of a scaled nine-story steel structure. The structure was isolated on eight multilayered elastomeric bearings. Because the base accelerations were lower for the tank in the isolated structure, the dynamic pressure was reduced for this tank. Free surface water elevation was slightly higher because of the lower frequency that characterizes the motion of base-isolated structures. A theoretical solution developed from linear wave theory was compared with the experimental results. The advantages of using base isolation for large storage tanks are investigated.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-88-07.pdf (5 MB)