Seismic Performance Evaluation of Liquid Storage Tanks Using Nonlinear Static Procedures

A simplified approach is presented for the seismic performance assessment of liquid storage tanks. The proposed methodology relies on a nonlinear static analysis, in conjunction with suitable “strength ratio-ductility-period” relationships, to derive the associated structural demand for the desired range of seismic intensities. In the absence of available relationships that are deemed fit to represent the nonlinear-elastic response of liquid storage tanks, several incremental dynamic analyses are performed for variable post-yield hardening ratios and periods in order to form a set of data that enables the fitting of the response. Following the identification of common modes of failure such as elephant's foot buckling (EFB), base plate plastic rotation, and sloshing wave damage, the aforementioned relationships are employed to derive the 16%, 50%, and 84% percentiles for each of the respective response parameters. Fragility curves are extracted for the considered failure modes, taking special care to appropriately quantify both the median and the dispersion of capacity and demand. A comparison with the corresponding results of incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) reveals that the pushover approach offers a reasonable agreement for the majority of failure modes and limit states considered.