Nonlinear behavior of ground-supported circular reinforced concrete tanks

This study aims to investigate the effect of various parameters on the seismic behavior of concrete tanks. A finite element method using pushover and time-history analysis is developed to investigate the seismic behavior of circular ground-supported tanks. The response modification factor (R) is evaluated based on nonlinear static and time-history analyses. R-factor is one of the key parameters in seismic design. In liquid containing structures, R-factor in current codes and standards are based on empirical values. Therefore, a justifiable guideline to accurately determine these values is yet to be developed. This study shows that the effect of tank size, material non-linearity, base condition, and earthquake frequency is significant. Also, fixed based and shallow tanks have higher R values compared to hinged based and tall tanks, respectively. Based on the results of this study, it is found that the value of R specified in current practice is not appropriate.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author