Nonlinear dynamic response of seismically excited rectangular concrete liquid filled tanks

The effect of nonlinearity on behaviour of rectangular concrete tanks partially filled with water is studied. The nonlinearity in the numerical modeling of the surface liquid sloshing performance and hydrodynamic pressure initiates from unknown boundary conditions of contained liquid volume. The nonlinear simulations are performed for Time-History seismic analysis using the finite element software ABAQUS/CAE. The nonlinear results are compared with linear analytical solutions and ACI 350.3-06 code. A Paramedic study is conducted to investigate the effect of tank plan dimension, frequency content of different seismic ground motions, nature of earthquake movements, and interaction of bi-directional component of earthquake on the maximum sloshing height of liquid. The results reveal that the nonlinearity is more significant in shallow tanks. Moreover, nonlinear hydrodynamic pressure distribution has no important difference with linear calculated pressure except for the surface sloshing pressure acting on the top of tanks. The linear ratio of depth of liquid to tank plan dimension used in ACI 350.3-06 formulation is found to be less accurate for calculating the maximum sloshing height of liquid.