The flooding that has occurred in New Orleans in the days following the passage of Hurricane Katrina through the Gulf Coast area has raised serious concerns about the performance of the hundreds of underground fuel tanks spread throughout the city. There are over 200 gas stations and small industrial facilities in the area that have been flooded, and the buried gas tanks at these locations raise serious environmental and safety concerns for the citizens of New Orleans. Failed underground tanks can contaminate the groundwater and drinking water supplies, and pose a long-term health hazard. If the underground tanks have not been properly installed and anchored there is a danger of these tanks popping out of the ground. Given the mass exodus of residents in response to the evacuation orders, it is very likely that the tanks in the gas stations were empty or close to being empty prior to the disaster. This increases the potential for the popping effect to occur since the tanks are quite buoyant when empty. This SGER effort is directed towards documenting the condition of the underground gas storage tanks in the portion of New Orleans that have experienced severe flooding. It is anticipated that there are about 75 gas stations and small industrial facilities in the heavily flooded zone. The study will focus only on the integrity of the tanks in place and will not deal with the entry of floodwaters into the tank through the vent or inlet pipes and the release of the gas into the floodwaters. Evacuation of the moisture from the tanks will be a major challenge given the large number of facilities involved. To the extent possible, information will be gathered about the anchoring system and installation methods used for both the failed tank assemblies and those that have not failed. The intellectual merit of the effort lies in: (a) the assessment of the installation methods and anchoring systems contributing to a specific behavior of these tanks under flood conditions; and (b) the investigation of the influence of the soil type and conditions - at the sites considered - on the performance of the underground tanks. The broader impact of the proposed effort lies in: (1) assisting the local and state agencies involved in approving the installation and operation of these underground tanks; (2) engaging graduate students in the data collection effort to enhance their appreciation of the design and performance of the anchoring and installation systems used for these underground tanks; and (3) utilizing the information gathered in this study in undergraduate design classes to bring about greater awareness of a system that is not normally considered in design courses. The results of the effort will be disseminated in technical meetings, archival publications, and be made accessible through the Civil Engineering Department website for use by researchers in further studies on the performance and failure of the bridge system.
