119

A simplied method for calculating the

stress of a large storage tank wall
Z P Chen1 , Y Y Duan1 , J M Shen2 , and J L Jiang1
1
Institute of Process Equipment and Control Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Peoples Republic of China
2
Ningbo Special Equipment Inspection Center, Ningbo, Peoples Republic of China

The manuscript was received on 7 February 2007 and was accepted after revision for publication on 21 June 2007.

DOI: 10.1243/09544089JPME125

Abstract: With consideration of the inuences from the constraint reaction of tank bottom plate
to each shell course, a simplied longshort shell method was proposed to calculate the stress of a
large storage tank wall. The rst shell course was regarded as a short cylindrical shell while all the
others as long cylindrical shells, and the analytic solution equations of shell stress were achieved
by theory of plates and shells. With resistance stressstrain method, a eld stress test was done on
a 15104 m3 oating-roof oil tank during its water lling test, and the measured stress data are in
good agreement with the calculation results obtained by this simplied calculation method for
shell stress. Therefore, the simplied method can be adopted to calculate the shell stress of large
storage tanks accurately.

Keywords: storage tank, mechanical analysis, stress test, theory of plates and shells

1 INTRODUCTION have the most complicated stress condition of the

Large storage tanks are the key equipment of strategic
petroleum reserve for every country. Including shells,
bottom plate, and tank roof, they are mainly vertical
metallic cylinders. They withstand hydrostatic pres-
sure of the stored liquid, which reduces from bottom
to top. To comply with the uniform-strength theory,
almost all large tanks are made by welding unequal-
thickness cylindrical shell courses together [1, 2]. To
avoid buckling due to wind load, wind girders, or
stiffening rings are welded on the upper part of the
cylinder. Bottom plate is composed of annular plate
and centre former. Considering the cost and the dif-
culty of construction, many tanks have oating roof
and sit directly on elastic foundation with concrete
ring beam. There are no anchor bolts between annular
plate and concrete ring beam.
For the lower part of the tank, the rst and the
second courses (from bottom to top, the same below)
Corresponding author: Institute of Process Equipment and Con-
trol Engineering, Zhejiang University, 38 Zheda Road, Hangzhou,
Zhejiang 310027, Peoples Republic of China. email: zhip-
ing@zju.edu.cn
whole tank. Furthermore, maximum stress appears
here. In addition to hydrostatic stress, constraint reac-
tion from foundation and concrete ring beam also
make the calculation more difcult. At present, two
typical methods for calculating shell stress are used,
short shell method and long shell method.
In short shell method, unequal-thickness shell
courses are considered as cylindrical shells, both sides
of which are under local stress. This method is accu-
rate, but involves complicated procedure. In long
shell method, each shell plate is considered as semi-
innite cylinder shell, which means that only single
side of each shell is under local stress. This method
is simple but it neglects the constraint reaction from
bottom plate to the second course, which causes big
errors especially in large storage tank whose diam-
eter is over 80 m. Therefore, to calculate the shell
stress accurately and briey, this paper proposed a
model in such a way that, the rst shell was regarded
as a short cylindrical shell while the others as long
cylindrical shells, bottom plate is seen as rigid-elastic
coupling grade beam, and the analytical solution
of shell stress was derived from the simultaneous
equations of bottom plate, the rst and the second
courses.

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120 Z P Chen, Y Y Duan, J M Shen, and J L Jiang

2 PRESENT CALCULATION METHODS

2.1 Short shell method

According to the stress features of large tanks,
unequal-thickness shell courses are considered as
cylindrical shells, both sides of which are under local
stress. The mechanical model of the ith shell course is
shown in Fig. 1.
In accordance with theory of plates and shells [3],
the deection equation of cylindrical shell in presence Fig. 1 Mechanical model of the ith shell course in short
of fringe force and bending moment is given by shell method

yi = C1i
1 (Fi xi ) + C2i
2 (Fi xi ) + C3i
3 (Fi xi ) As shown in Fig. 1, the number of unidentied fringe
g (Hi1 xi ) forces is 2(n + 1) when the shell number is n. For oat-
+ C4i
4 (Fi xi ) + (1) ing roof tank, Mn = Qn = 0 happens on the top of the
Ki
shell. M0 and Q0 can be derived by solving the calcu-
where yi is the deection of the ith shell course; C1i , lation equations of bottom plate stress. According to
C2i , C3i , and C4i are indeterminate constants; Hi1 is equation (3), the 2(n 1) deformation compatibility
the calculated water level at the (i 1)-th to ith course formulae can be obtained for the 2(n 1) unidenti-
junction; Ki = Eti /R 2 ; R is shell radius; ti is the thick- ed fringe forces at the (n 1) course junctions. Then,
ness of the ith shell course; E is the steel elasticity the four coefcients C1i , C2i , C3i , and C4i are obtained
modulus; is the water density; g is the gravity accel- by equation (2). Substituting them into equation (1),
eration. To simplify the calculation, function leads to the deection equations of shell plates.
is applied For the exure theory of rotation shell, the longitu-
dinal stress on the outside and inner side of a cylinder

1 (X ) = cosh X cos X wall is given by
1

2 (X ) = (cosh X sin X + sinh X cos X )
2 6D1 yi
1 xi = (4)

3 (X ) = sinh X sin X ti2
2
1

4 (X ) = (cosh X sin X sinh X cos X ) The hoop stress on the outside and inner side of
4
cylinder wall is given by
When xi = 0 and xi = li , there are boundary conditions
as follows

 E 6D1 yi
i = yi (5)
d2 y i
R ti2
Di = Mi1

dxi 2

xi =0



In equations (4) and (5), xi is the longitudinal stress of
3

d yi
the ith course. i is the hoop stress of the ith course.
Di = Q

dxi3
i1

Symbol + represents the stress on the outside of the
xi =0

 (2) cylinder wall, and symbol represents the stress on
d2 yi


the inner side of the wall.
Di = Mi
dxi2
The short shell method is quite accurate since inter-
xi =li



actions of neighbouring shell courses are considered.
3

d yi
But for large tanks, whose unequal-thickness shells are
Di = Q i
dxi 3 more than 6 and unknowns of each shell are more than
xi =li
six, ten or even more equations are needed to obtain
where, Di is the stiffness coefcient of the ith shell the theoretical stress. It is so complicated that it is not
course, Di = Et3i /12(1 2 ). often used in engineering.
Furthermore, there are deformation compatibility
formulae at the junction of neighbouring courses
2.2 Long shell method
yi |xi =li = yi+1 |xi+1 =0

  For convenience, in engineering, tank walls are gen-
dyi  dyi+1  (3) erally considered as semi-innite cylindrical shells.
xi =li =

dx  dx  Local stress is assumed to exist on single side of each
i i+1 xi+1 =0

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 A simplied method for calculating the stress of a large storage tank wall 121

Fig. 2 Mechanical model of the ith shell course in long

shell method

tank wall. The mechanical model of the ith shell course

is shown in Fig. 2.
When innite cylindrical shells are under local
stress, C3i = C4i = 0 in equation (1). Compared with
short shell method, two undetermined coefcients
are omitted for each shell. Based on deformation
compatibility formulae of both displacement and rota-
tion angle at the course junction, fringe forces and
moments at junctions can be derived.
In reality, shell courses of tanks are not innite, so
superposition method is often adopted to calculate the
deection of each shell with consideration of the fringe
forces at the course junctions.
Long shell method has the advantages of being sim-
ple but it is not accurate. Especially for the rst hoop
weld, calculation results differ greatly from measured Fig. 3 Bottom plate and shell model: (a) second and the
values of the shell stress. Actually, the shear force and above courses and (b) bottom plate and the rst
bending moment are rather big at the shellbottom course
junction. It cannot be neglected because it has a great
inuence on the stress distribution of the second shell. pressure, deection equations are as follows

2Fi Fi xA
3 COMBINED CYLINDRICAL SHELL METHOD yA = e [Qi cos Fi xA Fi Mi (cos Fi xA
Ki
g (Hi + xA )
Based on the advantages and disadvantages of short sin Fi xA )] + (6)
Ki
and long shell methods, this paper proposes a
mechanical analysis model of combined cylindrical where, yA is the deection of the ith course; xA is the
shell. The rst shell was regarded as a short cylindri- distance from the ith course to the weld joint; Qi ,
cal shell while the others as long cylindrical shells, Mi are the fringe shear force and moment at the
and analytical solution of shell stress was derived by ith to (i + 1)-th
course junction, respectively; Ki =
simultaneous equations of bottom plate, the rst and Eti /R 2 , Fi = 4 Ki /4Di , Di = Et3i /12(1 2 ); Hi is the cal-
the second courses. Figure 3 shows the mechanical culated water height at the ith to (i + 1)-th course
analysis model of combined cylindrical shell under junction
hydraulic pressure and local stress.
In this analysis, effects of openings and differential 2Fi+1 Fi+1 xB
yB = e [Qi cos Fi+1 xB Fi+1 Mi (cos Fi+1 xB
settlement of tank foundation are ignored. The entire Ki+1
tank is seen as a cylinder under hydrostatic pressure. g (Hi xB )
sin Fi+1 xB )] + (7)
Ki+1
3.1 Stress analysis of the second and the above
courses of a tank wall where yB is the deection of the (i + 1)-th course; xB
is the distance from the (i + 1)-th course to the weld
Second and all the above courses of tank shell are joint.
regarded as long cylindrical shells, which is shown in The compatible conditions of displacement and
Fig. 3(a). Under single-side fringe force and hydraulic rotation angle at the junction, when xA = xB = 0,

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122 Z P Chen, Y Y Duan, J M Shen, and J L Jiang

yA = yB , yA = yB 3.2 Stress analysis of the rst course

2
The rst shell course is considered as a short cylindri-
2Fi+1 2Fi 2Fi2 2Fi+1 cal shell. Its mechanical model is shown in Fig. 3(b).
K +  
i+1 Ki Ki Ki+1 Qi Deection of the rst course is described by the

2 following equation
2Fi+1 2Fi2 3
4Fi+1 2Fi3 Mi

Ki+1 Ki Ki+1 Ki y1 = C1
1 (F1 x1 ) + C2
2 (F1 x1 ) + C3
3 (F1 x1 )
  g (H x1 )
1 1
Hi g + C4
4 (F1 x1 ) + (11)
Ki Ki+1 K1

=   (8)
1 1 There are six unknowns or indeterminate con-
g stants (C1 , C2 , C3 , C4 , M1 , Q1 ) in equations (11) and
Ki Ki+1
(7). There are four equations for compatible dis-
placements, rotation angles, bending moments, and
The local stress can be obtained according to
shear forces at the junctions; and two equations
equation (8).
since displacements are zero and bending moments
Each tank wall undergoes two groups of local stress
equal at the shell-bottom junction. Six equations
and hydraulic pressure. The longitudinal stress and
for six unknowns C1 , C2 , C3 , C4 , M1 , and Q1 can
hoop stress of the ith course are calculated by adopting
be obtained to determine the deection equation
superposition method
y1 of the rst course. Then y1 will be substituted
 into equations (4) and (5) to obtain the theoretical
6 Fi xi Qi sin(Fi xi ) stress.
xi = 2 e
ti Fi Meanwhile, the rotation angle at the shell-bottom

junction can be derived by equation (11)
+ Mi [sin(Fi xi ) + cos(Fi xi )]
g
 w = C2 F1 (12)
6 K1
+ 2 eFi (li xi ) Mi+1 [sin(Fi (li xi ))
ti where K1 = Et1 /R 2 , F1 = 4 K1 /4D1 , D1 = Et31 /12

Qi+1 sin(Fi (li xi )) (1 2 )
+ cos(Fi (li xi ))] + (9) Equation (12) is used for stress calculation of the
Fi
bottom plate.
where li is the height of the ith course; 0< xi < li ,
i = 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Symbol + represents the stress on the 3.3 Stress analysis of bottom plate
outside of the cylinder wall, and symbol represents
the stress on the inner side of the wall. In most cases, large oil tanks sit directly on elastic foun-
dation. Therefore, a coupling method of rigid-elastic
 grade beam is used, as shown in Fig. 3(b). After the
E 2Fi Fi xi
i = e [Qi cos Fi xi Fi Mi (cos Fi xi tank is lled, the bottom plate adjacent to the rigid
R Ki
grade beam will tilt, and the uplift distance is L. As ver-
2Fi Fi (li xi ) ied in references [4] and [5], calculation formulae of
sin Fi xi )] + e [Qi+1 cos Fi (li xi )
Ki bending moment, bearing pressure and rotating angle
Fi Mi+1 (cos Fi (li xi ) sin Fi (li xi ))] are as follows

g (Hi xi ) 0.25P(2A1 A4 A2 A3 ) + GC(A2 C 2 A1 )
+ + xi (10) M0 =

Ki A1 3A2 C 2





0.5PA4 GC M0

where if i represents the stress on the outside or inner Mp =

A2

side of the cylinder wall depends on xi of equation (9).

0.5P(L C ) + GC + Mp + M0
2 2
When the longitudinal stress on the outside of the R2 = (13)
L

cylinder wall (symbol is + in equation (9)) is sub- 

stituted into equation (10), i is determined to be the 1 R2 P

b = (L C)2 (L C)3



hoop stress on the outside of the cylinder wall. And it D0 2 6



works both ways. 1

The stress of the second course cannot be calculated Mp (L C) (R + 2F M )

2 2 0 p
2F0
by equations (9) and (10) until M1 and Q1 are obtained
by simultaneous equations of bottom plate and the where C is the extended length from tank wall centre
rst course. to outer edge of annular plate; L is the uplift distance

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 A simplied method for calculating the stress of a large storage tank wall
up to which the bottom plate lifts the foundation;
t0 is the thickness of annular plate; G is the tank
wall weight per length of circumference, in this paper
all forces and bending moments are represented in
per length of circumference, and per length of cir-
cumference will be omitted in the sequel; R1 is the
supporting force from foundation to the bottom plate
periphery; R2 is the shear force of bottom plate at
the bottomfoundation junction; M0 is the bending
moment at the shellbottom junction; Mp is the bend-
ing moment of bottom plate at the bottomfoundation
junction; b is the rotation angle of bottom plate at the
shellbottom junction; P is the tank bottom hydraulic
pressure; K0 is the bedding value of tank founda-
tion; is Poissons ratio;H is water-lling height;
D0 = Et30 /12(1 2 ); F0 = 4 K0 /4D0 ; A1 = 3L 2 + F0 L 3 +
3L/F0 ; A2 = 1 + F0 L; A3 = C 4 L 4 2L 3 /F0 + 6L/F03 ;
A4 = C 2 L 2 L/F0 .
The simultaneous deection equations of the rst
and the second courses are adopted in calculation
by using trial-error. By assuming the uplift distance
of bottom plate L, the rotation angles b and w are
calculated by equations (13) and (12), respectively.
Comparing b with w , L should be re-specied and
thus calculation is repeated until b and w have
the same magnitude and opposite directions. There-
fore, the radial bending stress of upper surface is
presented by
When x  < C
6
br = [G + P(L C) R2 ]x 
t02
When C < x  < L
 
6 P
br = 2 Mp + (L x  )2 R2 (L x  )
t0 2
When x  > L
6 F0 (x L)
br = e {Mp {sin[F0 (x  L)]+
t02
cos[F0 (x  L)]} + R2 sin[F0 (x  L)]}
The hoop bending stress of upper surface is pre-
sented by
b = br
Membrane stress of the bottom plate is rather small,
which can be ignored. In this case, bending stress is
specied as the surface stress of bottom plate. And
lower-surface stress has the opposite direction against
upper-surface stress.
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123
4 EXAMPLE
Measured data is used to check the accuracy of
analytical method of combined cylindrical shell.
A new 15 104 m3 oating-roof oil tank is built
somewhere in China, whose building construction
photo is shown in Fig. 4. The author did experimental
stress test on the foundation and shells during water
lling test after foundation.
4.1 Technical parameters of the oil tank
A tank is designed according to American Standard
API 650. Its diameter is 100 000 mm, total height
is 21 800 mm, water-lling height is 20 180 mm, the
extended length from tank wall centre to the outer
edge of annular plate is C = 120 mm, and other tech-
nical parameters are listed in Table 1.
About 400 piles that are 8 m long were built before
construction of tank foundation. It makes the founda-
tion quite reliable. Meanwhile, foundation settlement
was measured during water-lling test. The result indi-
cates that the differential settlement of tank is much
less than tolerance of design standard. Therefore, it
can be neglected in stress analysis.
4.2 Stress testing
In addition to certifying the strength of tank, water-
lling test also compacts the foundation. That is why
the process of water lling should not be too fast. The
process of water lling lasted 13 days and the level has
kept constant at its maximum for 3 days. The entire
test period is 16 days.
Stress test adopts traditional stressstrain test
method based on resistance and uses biaxial strain
(14)
gauges. Several strain gauges are installed on the out-
side of the two shell courses adjacent to the bottom
plate. The arrangement of the strain gauges on the
outside of a cylinder wall is shown in Fig. 5. The strain
gauges are waterproof and thus are prevented from
being damped during test.
In order to reduce the inuence from solar heat-
ing and temperature changes, initial balance and data
acquisition of strain gauges were all scheduled at
9 a.m. everyday. When the water level kept constant at
its maximum, three series of data were recorded every
24 h. The result shows that the three series of data sta-
(15) bilized quite well and almost have nothing to do with
the weather and temperature.
After amendment the data of the strain gauges are
converted into stresses by using generalized Hookes
law. Table 2 lists the measured hoop stress and lon-
gitudinal stress on the outside of 15 104 m3 tank
wall at the maximum water level 20 180 mm. In Fig. 2,
for x = 25 mm, there are two series sharing the same
Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part E: J. Process Mechanical Engineering
124 Z P Chen, Y Y Duan, J M Shen, and J L Jiang

Fig. 4 A new 15 104 m3 oating-roof oil tank built somewhere in China

Table 1 Technical parameters of 15 104 m3 oil tank

Circle number (from

bottom to top) li (mm) ti (mm) Material

Tank shell 1 2980 40 SPV 490 Q

2 2680 33 SPV 490 Q
3 2680 26 SPV 490 Q
4 2680 22 SPV 490 Q
5 2680 17 SPV 490 Q
6 2680 12 SPV 490 Q
7 2660 12 16MnR
8 2660 12 Q235-B
Top wrapping rolled 100 10 mm Q235-B
steel
Bottom plate Annular plate Width of annular plate SPV490 Q
2000 mm, t0 = 23 mm
Centre plate Thickness is 11 mm Q235-B

x-coordinates but different angles in circumference.

So do x = 3097 mm and x = 3102 mm. These data are
set in order to evaluate the inuence from foundation
to shell stress and the repeatability of test data.

4.3 Calculation of theoretical stress

With combined cylindrical shell method, the shell
stress of 15 104 m3 oating roof tank is obtained. For
it, K0 = 0.1 N/mm3 , = 1 103 kg/m3 , g = 9.8 m/s2 ,
= 0.3, E = 2.06 105 MPa, other parameters are
listed in Table 1. By trialerror, requirements
are met when the uplift distance is L = 730 mm,
and R1 = 175.53 N/mm, R2 = 15.165 N/mm, M0 =
62 328 N, Mp = 4780.3 N, b = 0.022 564 rad, w =
0.022 564 rad. Calculation results show that bending
moments and shear forces (bearing pressure) are neg-
ative, which means their directions are opposite to the
directions assumed in Fig. 3. Table 3 shows bending
moments and shear forces obtained by the combined
cylindrical shell method at the shellbottom junction Fig. 5 Arrangement of the strain gauges on the outside
and course junctions. of the tank wall

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 A simplied method for calculating the stress of a large storage tank wall 125

Table 2 and x when reaching the maximum water

level 20 180 mm

x x x x
(mm) (MPa) (MPa) (mm) (MPa) (MPa)

25 58.0 266.0 3097 237.5 81.8

25 60.6 270.1 3102 243.7 46.7
126 18.7 164.0 3390 264.6 46.4
277 5.2 129.1 4082 249.9 28.8
424 36.1 66.4 4467 192.6 1.3
801 88.8 12.4 4812 216.4 20.1
1023 132.4 19.7 5159 205.6 17.8
1328 164.4 72.8 5465 218.4 19.8
1630 201.0 78.6 5629 214.9 19.2
1920 178.3 54.5 5703 220.9 12.8
2216 208.7 51.7 5808 239.1 9.5
2530 237.7 55.4 5933 222.6 3.7
2732 221.5 42.8 6111 237.0 10.5
2950 251.3 33.0 6304 241.3 13.3
3006 246.5 58.7 6604 241.4 7.5

x is the distance from the measuring points to the upper surface

of bottom plate.

Table 3 ti , li , M , and Q at course junctions

Qi1 Fig. 6 Hoop stresses on the outside surface

Level li (mm) ti (mm) Mi1 (N) (N/mm)

1 2980 40 61 554
2 2680 33 4374 2.131 methods on the second shell course, especially for the
3 2680 26 637.9 8.038 lower part of it. The results from the proposed method
4 2680 22 164.9 4.128
5 2680 17 287.2 4.453
are much closer to the measured values. Accord-
6 8000 12 280.9 3.679 ing to localization of boundary stress, constraint
reaction from bottom plate to shell stress decreases
with the increasing distance. When x
2.5 Rt =
4.4 Comparison 2.5 50 0.042 = 3.63 (m), effect from distance can
almost be omitted. Calculation curves from the two
Calculated results and measured values of hoop methods all match well with the measured values.
stresses on the outside of a cylinder wall are shown The measured hoop stresses and the calculation
in Fig. 6. The dash-dot-line represents the curves results of the proposed method and long shell method
obtained by long shell method, and the broken curve at the six measuring points adjacent to the rst shell
represents the membrane stress achieved by shell second course junction are shown in Table 4. By com-
theory. parison, the results obtained by the proposed method
It is noted that, theoretical curves of the proposed are closer to the measured values. The maximum error
method and long shell method agree very well on between measured values and the results obtained
the rst shell course below the rst hoop weld. How- by the proposed method is max = (c m )/ m =
ever, there are so many differences between the two 6.02 per cent (c is the calculation result and m is the

Table 4 Hoop stresses of six measuring points on the outside of a cylinder

wall

/(MPa)  (%)

Measured Proposed Long shell Proposed Long shell

N x (mm) value ( m ) method ( c ) method ( l ) method method

1 2950 251.3 249.9 249.8 0.56 0.60

2 3006 246.5 251.5 220.3 2.03 10.63
3 3097 237.5 251.8 222.7 6.02 6.23
4 3102 243.7 251.8 222.8 3.32 8.58
5 3390 264.6 250.9 228.7 5.18 13.57
6 4082 249.9 241.8 233.8 3.24 6.44

x is the distance from the measuring points to the upper surface of bottom plate.

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126 Z P Chen, Y Y Duan, J M Shen, and J L Jiang

theory of plates and shells. The method takes into

account the constraint from bottom plate to the
second course, which makes the calculation of the
maximum hoop stress feasible and accurate. The
proposed method has higher accuracy and much
simpler procedure than short shell method.
3. With the development of economy, most highly-
industrialized countries, which are dependent on
importing petroleum, have to increase their raw
oil storage because there is shortage of petroleum
almost in every country. As a result, more and more
large oil storage tanks have been built in these coun-
tries. Meanwhile, to reduce the cost, oil storage tank
capacity becomes bigger and bigger. The analytical
calculation method can derive the stress distribu-
tion of large tanks accurately and quickly, and the
safety of storage tanks is guaranteed.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was supported by the National High Tech-

Fig. 7 Longitudinal stresses on the outside surface
nology Research and Development Program of China
(863 Program) (No. 2007AA04Z427).
measured value), which can meet with the engineering
demand. REFERENCES
Calculation results of longitudinal stresses by the
proposed method and long shell method on the out- 1 American Petroleum Institute. API standard 650. Steel
side of a cylinder wall are shown in Fig. 7 together with tanks for oil storage, 10th edition, 1998.
measured values. The broken curve shows that the lon- 2 Japanese Industrial Standard. Welded steel tanks for oil
gitudinal membrane stress achieved by shell theory storage. JIS B 8501, Tokyo 107, Japan, 1987.
is zero. In the mass, measured longitudinal stresses 3 Timoshenko, S. and Woinowsky-Krieger, S. Theory of
uctuate around zero, which means that the results plates and shells, 1959, pp. 466487 (McGraw-Hill Book
from proposed method are closer to the measured Company Inc., New York).
4 Wu, T. Y. More accurate method devised for tank-bottom
values.
annular plate design. J. Oil Gas, 1996, 94(21), 8183.
The longitudinal and hoop stresses on the inner side 5 Wu, T. Y. and Liu, G. R. Comparison of design methods for
of a cylinder wall can also be derived by the proposed tank-bottom annular plate and concrete ring wall. Int. J.
method. Press. Vessels Pip., 2000, 77(3), 511517.

5 CONCLUSIONS APPENDIX

1. For the two present methods for calculating the

stress of large storage tanks, short shell method Notation
is more accurate, but it is not reliable in engi- C distance from shell plate centre to
neering because of its complicate procedure. Long outer edge of bottom annular plate
shell method is simple. But maximum stress always C1i , C2i , indeterminate constants
appears at the lower part of the second shell course C3i , C4i
induced by fringe force of bottom plate, which is D0 stiffness coefcient of the bottom
not considered by long shell method. As a result, the annular plate
calculation results deviate a lot from the measured D1 stiffness coefcient of the bottom
values. shell course
2. The paper proposes a mechanical model of com- Di stiffness coefcient of the ith shell
bined cylindrical shell. The rst shell course is course, i = 2, 3, 4, . . . (from bottom to
regarded as a short cylindrical shell while all the top)
others as long cylindrical shells, and the analytic E modulus of elasticity of the steel
solution equations of shell stress can be obtained by g gravity acceleration

Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part E: J. Process Mechanical Engineering JPME125 IMechE 2007

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 A simplied method for calculating the stress of a large storage tank wall 127

G tank shell weight per length of t0 thickness of annular plate

circumference ti thickness of the ith course of the
H water-lling height tank shell
Hi calculated water height at the ith to x distance from the measuring point
(i + 1)-th course junction to the upper surface of tank bottom
K0 bedding value of tank foundation plate
K1 elastic coefcient of the bottom shell xA distance from the ith course to the
course welded joint
Ki elastic coefcient of the ith shell xB distance from the ith course to the
course weld joint
li height of the ith course of the yi deection of the ith shell course
tank shell yA deection of the ith course of the tank
L uplift distance up to which the shell
bottom plate lifts the foundation yB deection of the (i + 1)-th course of
M0 bending moment at the shellbottom the tank shell
junction
Mi edge moment at the ith to (i + 1)-th  error between measured values and
course junction theoretical calculation values
Mp bending moment of bottom plate at b rotation angle of bottom plate at the
the bottomfoundation junction shellbottom junction
P tank bottom hydraulic pressure w rotation angle of the lower node of the
Qi edge shear force at the ith to (i + 1)-th rst course
course junction Poissons ratio
R shell radius water density
R1 supporting force from foundation to xi longitudinal stress on the outside and
the bottom plate periphery inner side of the ith course
R2 shear force of bottom plate at the i hoop stress on the outside and inner
bottomfoundation junction side of the ith course

JPME125 IMechE 2007 Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part E: J. Process Mechanical Engineering

Downloaded from pie.sagepub.com at University of Bath - The Library on June 21, 2015
Downloaded from pie.sagepub.com at University of Bath - The Library on June 21, 2015