Effect of Earthquake Frequency Content on 3D Sloshing in Rectangular Tanks

Earthquake frequency content has a significant effect on sloshing wave amplitude and height in liquid storage tanks. In this paper, the finite element method had been used to obtain the three dimensional fluid-structure interaction response of the rectangular tanks to access the sloshing interference effects at the tank corners under various seismic input motions with different frequency contents. The flexibility of the tank wall as well as the structural and fluid damping have been taken into account to obtain more reliable and realistic results. It has also been shown that the 3D sloshing interference may increase the total wave height significantly at the corners of the tanks compared to the values presented in the design codes, which shows the maximum sloshing wave with much lower values and at a different location. It has been finally shown that the 3D sloshing effects relates to the ratio of the width and the length of the tank.