Buckling Characteristics of Floating Roof Pontoons in Aboveground Storage Tanks Subjected to Bending Load in Two Directions

Author(s):  
Shoichi Yoshida ◽  
Kazuhiro Kitamura

The 2003 Tokachi-Oki earthquake caused severe damage to aboveground oil storage tanks due to liquid sloshing. Seven single-deck floating roofs had experienced structural problems as evidenced by sinking failure in large diameter tanks at the refinery in Tomakomai, Japan. The pontoons of the floating roofs might be buckled due to circumferential bending moment during the sloshing. The content in the tank was spilled on the floating roof from small failures which were caused at the welding joints of pontoon bottom plate by the buckling. Then the floating roof began to lose buoyancy and submerged into the content slowly. The authors had reported the buckling strength of the pontoons with and without ring stiffeners subjected to circumferential bending load in the previous papers. This paper presents the buckling strength of the pontoons subjected to both circumferential and radial bending load. The axisymmetric shell finite element method is used in the analysis. Linear elastic bifurcation buckling analysis is carried out and the buckling characteristics of the pontoon with and without ring stiffeners are investigated.

Author(s):  
Shoichi Yoshida

The 2003 Tokachi-Oki earthquake caused severe damage to oil storage tanks due to liquid sloshing. Seven single-deck floating roofs had experienced structural problems as evidenced by sinking failure in large diameter tanks at a refinery in Tomakomai, Japan. The pontoons of the floating roofs might be buckled due to circumferential bending moment during the sloshing. The content in the tank was spilled on the floating roof from small failures which were caused in the welding joints of pontoon bottom plate by the buckling. Then the floating roof began to lose buoyancy and sank into the content slowly. The authors had reported the buckling strength of the pontoons subjected to circumferential bending load first and that of the pontoons subjected to both circumferential and radial bending load next in the previous papers. This paper presents the buckling strength of the pontoons subjected to both circumferential bending load and circumferential compressive load. The axisymmetric shell finite element method is used in the analysis. Linear elastic bifurcation buckling analysis is carried out and the buckling characteristics of the pontoon both with and without ring stiffeners are investigated.


Author(s):  
Shoichi Yoshida ◽  
Kazuhiro Kitamura

The 2003 Tokachi-Oki earthquake caused severe damage to oil storage tanks due to liquid sloshing. Six single-deck floating roofs had experienced structural problems as evidenced by sinking failure in large diameter tanks at the refinery at Tomakomai, Japan. The pontoon of floating roof might be buckled due to circumferential bending moment during the sloshing. The content in the tank was spilled on the floating roof from small failures which were caused in the rap welding joints of pontoon bottom plate by the buckling. Then the floating roof began to lose buoyancy and submerged into the content slowly. The failure of the roof expanded gradually in the sinking process. It is presumed that the initial small failures were caused by the elastic buckling of the pontoon due to circumferential bending moment. This paper presents the buckling strength of the pontoon using axisymmetric shell finite element analysis. Linear elastic bifurcation buckling analysis is carried out and the buckling characteristics of the pontoon are investigated. The result shows that the thickness of both pontoon roof and bottom plates have significantly affect the buckling strength.


Author(s):  
Shoichi Yoshida ◽  
Kazuhiro Kitamura

The 2003 Tokachi-Oki earthquake caused severe damage to oil storage tanks due to liquid sloshing. Six single-deck floating roofs had experienced structural problems as evidenced by sinking failure in large diameter tanks at the refinery in Tomakomai, Japan. The pontoon of floating roof might be buckled due to circumferential bending moment during the sloshing. The content in the tank was spilled on the floating roof from small failures which might be caused in the lap-welded joints or in the stress concentrated parts of the pontoon bottom plate by the buckling. Then the floating roof began to lose buoyancy and submerged into the content slowly. The failure of the roof expanded gradually in the sinking process. It is presumed that the initial small failures were caused by the elastic buckling of the pontoon due to circumferential bending moment. In this paper, the buckling strength of the pontoon is presented using axisymmetric shell finite element analysis. Linear elastic bifurcation buckling analyses are carried out and the buckling characteristics of ring stiffened pontoons are investigated.


Author(s):  
Shoichi Yoshida

The 2003 Tokachi-Oki earthquake caused severe damage to oil storage tanks due to liquid sloshing. Seven single-deck floating roofs had experienced sinking failures in large diameter tanks at a refinery in Tomakomai, Japan. The pontoons of the floating roofs might be buckled due to bending load during the sloshing. The content in the tank was spilled on the floating roof from small failures which were caused in the welding joints of pontoon bottom plate by the buckling. Then the floating roof began to lose buoyancy and sank into the content slowly. The elastic buckling of the pontoon is important from the viewpoint of the single-deck floating roof sinking. The authors had reported the buckling strength of the pontoons subjected to bending and compressive loads in the published literatures. The axisymmetric shell finite element method for linear elastic bifurcation buckling was used in the analysis. The buckling characteristics of the pontoon both with and without ring stiffeners were investigated. The initial geometrical imperfection may diminish the buckling load. This paper presents the lower bound buckling load according to the reduced stiffness method proposed by Croll and Yamada. The lower bound buckling loads of the pontoon subjected to circumferential bending load are evaluated from the axisymmetric finite element analysis which includes the reduced stiffness method.


Author(s):  
Shoichi Yoshida ◽  
Kazuyoshi Sekine ◽  
Katsuki Iwata

The floating roofs are widely used to prevent evaporation of content in large oil storage tanks. The 2003 Tokachi-Oki earthquake caused severe damage to the floating roofs due to liquid sloshing. The structural integrity of the floating roofs for the sloshing is urgent issue to establish in the petrochemical and oil refining industries. This paper presents the sloshing characteristics of the single deck floating roofs in cylindrical storage tanks. The hydrodynamic coupling of fluid and floating roof is taken into consideration in the axisymmetric finite element analysis. It is assumed that the fluid is incompressible and inviscid, and the floating roof is linear elastic while the sidewall and the bottom are rigid. The basic vibration characteristics, natural periods and vibration modes, of the floating roof due to the sloshing are investigated. These will give engineers important information on the floating roof design.


2001 ◽  
Vol 124 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-65
Author(s):  
Shoichi Yoshida

The bottom plate of aboveground oil storage tanks can bulge, separating from the foundation due to welding deformation. When such a bulge is subjected to liquid pressure, it deforms continuously to make contact with the foundation from the edge, and the remaining area of the bulge decreases with increasing liquid pressure. As a result, the deformation is extremely localized and plastic strain occurs at the bulge. This paper presents a plane strain finite element analysis for the evaluation of localized bottom bulges in aboveground oil storage tanks. Load-incremental, elastic-plastic large deformation analysis is carried out considering the bottom plate contact with the foundation. The relationship of the plastic strain at the bulged bottom plate to the liquid pressure is discussed together with the deformation of the bulge. As a result, the bottom plate thickness has a significant effect on the deformation, but the bulged height does not. After the bulged center makes contact with the foundation, the stress and strain do not increase with increasing liquid pressure. In addition, the permissible bulged profile specified by API Standard 653 elastically deforms to make contact with the foundation under low liquid pressure.


Author(s):  
Marina Q. Smith ◽  
Christopher J. Waldhart

Current methods for estimating the remaining strength of aging, corroded pipelines have been restricted to the capabilities of pressure based engineering models that rely on the definition of hoop stress in the pipe wall. Because in practice, pipelines are subjected to a variety of loading conditions (e.g.; axial bending from settlement and thermal stresses) that act in concert with those derived by internal pressure, a multi-year combined testing and analysis program was initiated by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company aimed at developing computer tools for the prediction of rupture and wrinkling in corroded pipes. During the program, seventeen full-scale tests of mechanically corroded 48-inch diameter (1219-mm), X65 pipes subjected to internal pressure, axial bending, and axial compression were performed to provide data necessary for the verification of analytical models and failure prediction models. While all of the tests were designed to produce rupture, wrinkling, as defined by the occurrence of a limit moment during the application of bending loads, was produced in eleven of the tests either prior to or instead of rupture. Loading of the pipe was intended to simulate that which would be observed by a pipe in-service and included both load control and displacement control of the applied bending load, and in some tests, intended to define the amount of additional pressure required to cause burst after wrinkling was produced. Results of the tests showed that two different failure modes are produced depending on whether the bending moment is transmitted to the pipe as a fixed load or a fixed displacement, and consequently, the burst capacity of the corroded pipe may not be compromised by the presence of axial loads. This paper discusses the tests performed, including a description of the load schedule and corrosion geometries, and key results of the tests that were used in the development of a new strain-based burst prediction procedure for corroded pipes subjected to combined loads.


Author(s):  
Shoichi Yoshida

When constructing the bottom of aboveground oil storage tanks, the bottom plates are first laid out on the flat foundation, and they then are joined by welding the joints in sequence. As the foundation is difficult to be made completely homogeneous over the bottom area, the settlement of the bottom plates is not uniform under liquid pressure. The depressions of the bottom plates are sometimes found at the first internal inspection which is usually made about 10 years after the oil storage. This paper presents plane strain finite element analysis for the localized bottom depression in aboveground oil storage tanks. Load-incremental, elastic-plastic large deformation analysis is carried out considering contact with the foundation. The relationship of the stress at the depressed bottom plate to the liquid pressure is discussed together with the deformation of the depression.


Author(s):  
Lei Shi ◽  
Xiaolin Wang ◽  
Liang Chang ◽  
Xue Li

Abstract This paper presents an numerical study on a large unanchored open-topped steel tank. The buckling behaviors of the tank are analyzed using the finite element computer package ANSYS by means of nonlinear stabilization algorithm. The effects of foundation harmonic settlement on the elephant foot buckling strength of large unanchored open-topped oil storage tanks with tapered shells under axial compression are explored by numerical modeling. Various items of actual geometrical structure which involve concrete ringwall foundation of tank, unanchored bottom with slope, shell tapering from the base to the top, wind girders and supports, top angles, stiffening rings and support plates are presented thoroughly in the non-symmetrical 3D finite element model. Geometric nonlinearity, nonlinear boundary conditions and elastic plastic material of Ramberg-Osgood model are involved simultaneously in simulate course. The obtained solutions are displayed graphically for selected values of system parameters: harmonic settlement amplitude, harmonic number, and critical buckling stress of axially compressed oil tank. The results will provide insights into the relationship between foundation harmonic settlement and buckling strength of the large cylinders.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document