Differential Settlements in Steel Tanks
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical Engineering
Volume 113, Issue 9
Abstract
Case histories of tank settlement and damage are examined to determine which factors control the magnitude of differential settlements of tanks. The available data are used to assess the accuracy of conventional settlement analysis procedures as applied to steel tanks on compressible foundation soils and to determine the magnitudes of differential settlement that tanks can tolerate without damage. New criteria for tolerable settlements of tanks are recommended. These new criteria apply to the three settlement profile shapes found to develop in actual tanks. The new criteria are easier to apply than some of the criteria proposed previously, because they do not require determination of the distance from the tank edge to the point of maximum settlement, a quantity that cannot be calculated using any simple analytical procedure. The influence of this distance, important in determining the distortion of the tank bottom, is incorporated in the new criteria through use of different magnitudes of tolerable settlement depending on the shape of the settlement profile.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Bell, R. A., and Iwakiri, J. (1980). “Settlement comparison used in tank failure study.” J. Geotech. Engrg., Div., ASCE, 106(2), 153–169.
2.
Belloni, L., Barassino, A., and Jamiolkowski, M. (1975). “Differential settlements of petroleum steel tanks.” Proceedings British Geotechnical Society conference on settlement of structures, Pentech Press, London, England, 323–328.
3.
Bjerrum, L., and Overland, A. (1957). “Foundation failure of an oil tank in Fredrikstad, Norway.” Fourth International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Vol. I, London, U.K., 287–290.
4.
Brown, J. D., and Paterson, W. G. (1964). “Failure of an oil storage tank on a sensitive marine clay.” Canad. Geot. J., 1(4), 205–214.
5.
Carlson, E. D., and Fricano, S. P. (1961). “Tank foundations in eastern Venezuela.” J. Soil Mech. Found. Div., ASCE, 87(5), 69–90.
6.
Cooling, L. F., and Gibson, R. E. (1955). “Settlement studies on structures in England.” Conference on the correlation between calculated and observed stresses and displacements in structures, Institution of Civil Engineers, London, U.K., 295–317.
7.
Dames and Moore (1976). Analysis of failure of T‐270 tank, Mitsubishi Oil Company refinery, Mizushima, Japan. Dames and Moore, San Francisco, Calif., unpublished report.
8.
Davis, E. H., and Poulos, H. G. (1972). “Rate of settlement under two and three dimensional conditions.” Geotechnique, 22(1), 95–114.
9.
DeBeer, E. E. (1969). “Foundation problems of petroleum tanks.” Institut Beige du Petrol, Annates, No. 6, 25–40.
10.
D'Orazio, T. B., and Duncan, J. M. (1982). “CONSAX: A Computer Program for Axisymmetric Finite Element Analysis of Consolidation.” Research Report No. UCB/GT/82‐01, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of California, Berkeley, Calif.
11.
Duncan, J. M., and Buchignani, A. L. (1976). “An engineering manual for settlement studies.” Geotechnical Engineering Report, Univ. of California, Berkeley, Calif.
12.
Duncan, J. M., and D'Orazio, T. B. (1984). “Stability of steel oil storage tanks.” J. Geotech. Engrg. Div., ASCE, 110(9), 1219–1238.
13.
Gibson, R. E., and Marsland, A. (1960). “Pore water pressure observations in a saturated alluvial deposit beneath a loaded oil tank.” Conference on pore pressure and suction in soils, London, U.K., 112–119.
14.
Green, P. A., and Hight, D. W. (1975). “The failure of two oil storage tanks caused by differential settlement.” Proceedings British Geotechnical Society conference on settlement of structures, Pentech Press, London, England.
15.
Greenwood, D. A. (1975). “Differential settlement tolerances of cylindrical steel tanks for bulk liquid storage.” Proceedings British Geotechnical Society conference on settlement of structures, Pentech Press, London, England.
16.
Guber, F. H. (1974). Design engineering contributions to quality tankage, International Institute of Welding Annual Assembly, Budapest, Hungary, 99–129.
17.
Hayashi, K. (1973). “Evaluation of localized differential tank bottom settlement.” Report No. EE12TTR.73, EXXON Research and Engineering Co., San Francisco, Calif.
18.
Herber, K. H. (1955). “Eckverbindungen von Tanken and Behaltern.” Die Stahlbau, Vols. 10 and 11, 225–228 and 253–257 (in German).
19.
Kalinovsky, B. S. (1958). “Settlement of tanks on reclaimed tidelands.” Dames and Moore Engineering Bulletin.
20.
Lambe, T. W. (1969). “Reclaimed land in Kawasaki City.” J. Soil Mech. Foundation Div., ASCE, 95(5), 1181–1198.
21.
Lambe, T. W., “Pore pressures in a foundation clay.” J. Soil Mech. Foundation Div., ASCE, 88(2), 19–47.
22.
Langeveld, J. M. (1974). “Design of large steel storage tanks for crude oil and liquid natural gas.” Annual meeting of the International Institute of Welding Section: Welding of storage tanks for the oil and gas industries, Budapest, Hungary, 35–95.
23.
Liu, T. K., and Dugan, J. P., Jr. (1975). “Elastic settlement behavior of three steel storage tanks.” Proceedings British Geotechnical Society conference on settlement of structures, Pentech Press, London, England, 110–115.
24.
Marr, W. A., Ramos, J. A., and Lambe, T. W. (1982). “Criteria for settlement of tanks.” J. Geotech. Engrg. Div., ASCE, 108(8), 1017–1039.
25.
McClelland Engineers (1973). Report on the performance of two tanks. McClelland Engineers, Houston, Tex., unpublished.
26.
Meyerhof, G. G. (1981). Lecture on the bearing capacity of shallow foundations. Univ. of California, Berkeley, Calif., unpublished.
27.
Nixon, I. K. (1949) “ϕ = 0 analysis.” Geotechnique, 1(3), 208–209.
28.
Penman, A. D. M. (1977). “Soil structure interaction and deformation problems with large oil tanks.” Building Research Establishment Current Paper CP 14/78, London, U.K.
29.
Penman, A. D. M., and Watson, G. H. (1963). “Settlement observations on an oil tank.” Proceedings European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Wiesbaden, West Germany, 163–171.
30.
Penman, A. D. M., and Watson, G. H. (1965). “The improvement of a tank foundation by the weight of its own test load.” Sixth International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Vol. 2, Montreal, Canada, 169–173.
31.
Penman, A. D. M., and Watson, G. H. (1967). “Foundations for storage tanks on reclaimed land at Teesmouth.” Proceedings, Institution of Civil Engineers, 37(5), 19–42.
32.
Poulos, H. G., and Davis, E. H. (1974). Elastic solutions for soil and rock mechanics. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, N.Y.
33.
Regulations for Tanks. (1977). Japanese Fire Defense Agency.
34.
Roberts, D. V. (1961). “Foundations for cylindrical storage tanks.” Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Paris, France, 785–788.
35.
Rosenberg, P., and Journeaux, N. L. (1982). “Settlement limitations for cylindrical steel storage tanks.” Canadian Geotech. J., Vol. 19, 232–238.
36.
Saurin, B. F. (1949). “Test on a large surface foundation.” Geotechnique, 1(4), 272–274.
37.
Skempton, A. W., and Bjerrum, L. (1957). “A contribution to settlement analysis of foundations on clay.” Geotechnique, 7, 168–178.
38.
Sullivan, R. A., and Nowicki, J. F. (1975). “Differential settlements of cylindrical oil tanks.” Proceedings, British Geotechnical conference on settlement of structures, Pentech Press, London, England, 420–424.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical Engineering
Volume 113 • Issue 9 • September 1987
Pages: 967 - 983
Copyright
Copyright © 1987 ASCE.
History
Published online: Sep 1, 1987
Published in print: Sep 1987
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.