9416484 Haroun The Northridge earthquake induced a number of incidents of damage to ground-based tanks, and even to some retrofitted tanks. Utilities and industrial facilities in the strong shaking area include a large inventory of tanks of all types, and many records have been obtained in the vicinity of damaged and undamaged tanks. The mass of data on earthquake ground motions and observations of the structural response have important implications for the earthquake resistant design. This is project will study the performance of tank structures as follows: Collection of data and documentation of the damaged sustained by ground-based water and petroleum storage tanks. Calculation of the dynamic response of representative tanks and correlation of the computed response with observed damage or lack of damage. Study of the effects of long period components on the sloshing phenomenon. Study of the damage to retrofitted tanks to deduce the reasons for the ineffectiveness of implemented to retrofit mechanisms. Specifically, a study of damage to the anchors is proposed to devise improved ways for the anchoring system. Comparison of induced seismic forces with those specified by available codes and standards such as API 650, AWWA 100, EPRI, UBC and the New Zealand Recommendations. New advances have been made in the analysis of liquid-filled tanks such as non-linear sloshing of liquids, elephant foot buckling of the tank shell, and combined liquid-structure-soil interaction. This is an opportune time to compare the predicted response with actual behavior under earthquake loading to refine and tune these methods and to provide improved seismic design procedures. This is a Northridge Earthquake project. ***
