Linear isolation of stainless steel legged thin-walled tanks

Because of the booming wine industry in some seismic countries such as the US, Chile and Argentina, seismic protection of wine storage systems is of practical importance. In this study, the dynamic response of thin-walled legged wine tanks with seismic isolation is investigated. Linear fluid–structure interaction has been considered in the analyses performed with SAT-LAB and ADINA and two choices for the seismic isolation system have been evaluated: (i) a traditional lateral isolation system (LAI), and (ii) a vertical-rocking isolation system (VRI). As far as the authors know, the latter has not been considered in previous studies, and results show that it is a viable alternative for legged tanks. Moreover, all isolation devices have been designed considering the space limitations that are inherent to the implementation of these systems in practice. Results obtained for a suite of records and different structures have shown that both types of isolation lead to response reductions of the tank stresses. The reduction ranges from 20% to 79% for the LAI models and 31%–91% for the VRI, relative to the case without isolation. These promising results have implications in the selection of the thickness of the wall and the overall dimensions of the tank.