Distortion of Steel Tanks Due to Settlement of Their Walls
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical Engineering
Volume 115, Issue 6
Abstract
The relationship between settlements and lateral deflections of the walls of floating‐roof steel tanks, and methods that can be used to estimate lateral wall deflections, are the main focus of this paper. As the walls of floating‐roof steel tanks settle unevenly, the upper parts of the walls deflect inward or outward, producing what has been termed “ovalization” of the tank. Ovalization leads to problems with floating roofs. Inward deflections may cause the roof to bind. Outward deflections may cause loss of seal and resulting emission problems. The amount of inward or outward deflection of the walls of floating‐roof tanks can be estimated readily once the basic shape has been recognized and the deformation axes, called fold lines, have been located. A simple procedure for recognizing fold lines and for calculating lateral deflections of walls is explained. Comparisons with other methods of analysis and with field measurements show that the fold‐line method is accurate enough for practical purposes, and that it provides a clear understanding of tank deformations.
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.” Proc. Conf. on Settlement of Struct., British Geotechnical Society, Pentech Press, London, England, 323–328.
3.
Brown, J. D., and Peterson, W. G. (1964). “Failures of an oil storage tank on a sensitive marine clay.” Can. Geotech. J., 1(4), 205–214.
4.
Clarke, James S. (1969). “Survey of oil storage tank failures.” Ann. Inst. Beige de Petrol, Belgium, (6), 15–24.
5.
Craig, H. A. (1975). Discussion, Proc. Conf. on Settlement of Struct., British Geotechnical Society, Pentech Press, London, England, 656–660.
6.
DeBeer, E. E. (1969). “Foundation problems of petroleum tanks.” Ann. Inst. Beige de Petrole, (6), 24–40.
7.
D'Orazio, T. B., and Duncan, J. M. (1987). “Differential settlements in steel tanks.” J. Geotech. Engrg., ASCE, 113(9), 1219–1238.
8.
Green, P. A., and Hight, G. W. (1975). “The failure of two oil storage tanks caused by differential settlement.” Proc. Conf. on Settlement of Struct., British Geotechnical Society. Pentech Press, London, England.
9.
Greenwood, D. A. (1975). “Differential settlement tolerance of cylindrical steel tanks for bulk liquid storage.” Proc. the British Geotechnical Society, Pentech Press, London, England, 35–97.
10.
Guber, F. H. (1974). Design engineering contributions to quality tankage. Int. Inst. Welding Annual Assembly, Budapest, Hungary, 99–129.
11.
Hayashi, K. (1973). “Evaluation of localized differential tank bottom settlement.” Internal Report No. EE.12TTR.73, Exxon Research and Engineering Co.
12.
Jamiolkowski, M. (1975). Discussion, Proc. Conf. on Settlement of Sturct., British Geotechnical Society, Pentech Press, London, England, 787–799.
13.
Lambe, T. W. (1969). “Reclaimed land in kawasaki city.” J. Soil Mech. and Found. Div., ASCE, 95(5).
14.
Langeveld, J. M. (1974). “The design of large steel storage tanks for crude oil and natural gas.” Proc. Annual Meeting, International Institute of Welding, 35–95.
15.
Love, A. E. H. (1927). A treatise on the mathematical theory of elasticity. 4th Ed. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, England.
16.
Malik, Z., Morton, J., and Ruiz, C. (1977). “Ovalization of cylindrical tanks as a result of foundation settlement.” J. Strain Anal., 12(4), 339–348.
17.
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.
18.
Penman, A. D. M. (1977). “Soil‐structure interaction and deformation problems with large oil tanks.” Proc., Int. Symp. on Soil‐Struct. Interaction, Univ. of Roorkee, Roorkee, India, 1, 521–526.
19.
Sullivan, R. A., and Nowicki, J. F. (1974). “Differential settlement of cylindrical oil tanks.” Proc. Conf. on Settlement of Structures, British Geotechnical Society, Apr., 420–424.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © 1989 ASCE.
History
Published online: Jun 1, 1989
Published in print: Jun 1989
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.