Modelling of Nonlinear Fluid-Structure-Soil Interaction and Evaluation of Dynamic Response of Cylindrical Tanks Earthquake response of tanks is different from traditional structures. Tanks subjected to strong ground motion can have different nonlinear behavioural due to multi-domains system complexities. Therefore tank-fluid interaction and tank-soil interaction has to be modelled accurately to evaluate dynamic performance of cylindrical tanks.
The evaluation of fluid-structure-soil interactions may be investigated analytically, experimentally and numerically. The derivation of an analytical solution for the fluid-structure-soil behaviours includes many assumptions and simplifications. Even though, experimental works are necessary to study the actual behaviour of the system, they are time consuming, very costly and performed only for specific boundary and excitation conditions. However, appropriate numerical simulation using fluid-structure-soil interaction techniques is effective solution to evaluate the dynamic response of tanks.
In this thesis, modelling techniques of nonlinear fluid-tank-soil interactions were investigated and summarized. Then, mesh generation algorithms were utilized to generate numerical tank models in order to evaluate the dynamic response of the tank. Three different soil types were used to model the soil domain. The nonlinear fluid-tank-soil system was analysed for three earthquake excitation applied at the rock base of system. The sloshing of the fluid, displacement of the tank wall and shear force and overturning moment at the tank base were studied. Finally, effects of nonlinear soil domain on dynamic response of tank system were investigated. The success of the preferred numerical method for fluid-structure-soil interaction was also investigated.
