ANALYSIS OF SOIL - STRUCTURE INTERACTION ON RESPONSE OF TANKS FILLED WITH FLUID

In the conventional analysis of tanks with fluid, the base of tank is assumed to be fixed and the flexibility of soil is not accounted in the analysis. However, it is well known that actual behavior of tank not only depends on the stiffness of tank but also on the stiffness of foundation and supporting soil system. In the proposed study, the tank resting on soil is analysed considering the effect of soil. The tank, fluid and soil are modelled using finite element method. Tank is subjected to one far field and one near fault ground accelerations and the displacement, base shear and the pressure in the fluid are obtained. Three types of soil with different flexibility are considered to study the soil structure interaction (SSI) effect. It is concluded from the study that the soil flexibility significantly affects the response of tank and the effect may be either beneficial or detrimental on the response of tank.