Dynamic Experimental Investigation on the Self-Vibration Characteristics of Liquid Storage Tanks Under Seismic Excitations

A large-scale earthquake simulation experiment about the unanchored cylindrical steel liquid storage model tanks has been completed. The self-vibration characteristics of the model tanks with liquid inside were investigated based on the experimental data of the acceleration dynamic response. The seismic table test, the analysis methods are designed and conducted, and experimental results of the model tanks were carefully measured. Furthermore, ANSYS finite element software was used to simulate and calculate the low order natural frequency and fundamental frequency of the model tank systems according to the national design standard. The reasons for the existence of consistency and differences among the results obtained from experiments, numerical simulation and national design standard were discussed.