Session: SE-07-01 Seismic Evaluation of Systems, Structures and Components

Paper Number: 61069

Start Time: Wednesday, July 14, 2021, 09:00 AM

61069 - Seismic Fragility and Behavior of Spherical Pressure Vessels 

Pressurized tanks are vessels that show high impermeability and strength against large internal pressures. These tanks can be used for liquid or gas storage. The internal pressures of the vessels used in gas storage can be at very high levels. These tanks are used in many different areas in industry. Therefore, human health and life safety is an important parameter. Therefore, the design of the tanks to be produced must be suitable for the purpose, as well as the correct analysis and safe usage conditions. For this reason, the risk analysis and seismic behavior of these vessels should be carefully examined.

Pressure vessels are closed vessels designed to hold gas or liquid at a significantly different pressure with the external environment. Excessive pressure and temperature difference can lead to explosions that will cause dangerous and many fatal accidents. As a result, domino effects can occur in industrial facilities. When the performances of past earthquakes are examined, it has been revealed that especially spherical vessels show seismic fragility. Therefore, evaluating the seismic fragility of these vessels is an important issue in regions with high earthquake risk. Fragility curves are important tools to evaluate the vulnerability of structures to earthquakes. These curves express the probability of reaching or exceeding any damage condition in terms of earthquake risk level. Within the scope of this study, empirical fragility curves have been created by considering the limited database analyzed for the damage conditions of spherical and horizontal pressure vessels in earthquakes that occurred in the past years. The curves obtained were interpreted in relation to the ground motion intensity parameter (PGA). In addition, nonlinear time history analyzes of tank models using the Finite Element Method (FEM) have been performed to evaluate seismic performance of the vessels.

Presenting Author: Sezer Öztürk Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakif University

Authors:

Sezer Öztürk Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakif University
Kayahan Akgül Istanbul University
Ali Sarı Istanbul Technical University