Frequency Response Behaviors of FRP Cylindrical Liquid Storage Tanks Taking Account of Coupling of Fluid and Structures

In order to keep a structural safety of FRP cylindrical liquid storage tanks under earthquake loads, not only a static analysis under hydrostatic pressure but a coupled analysis of fluid and structure must be considered. In this paper a method of FEM modeling which employ multi-point constraint equations on the boundary of structure and fluid is proposed. The theoretical results of frequency response behaviors and strains acting on the FRP cylindrical liquid storage tank for dynamic water pressures are compared with the experimental ones. As a conclusion, the FEM simulation agrees well with the experimental results and the present method is a useful and a convenient for analyzing a coupled fluid-structure behavior in cylindrical liquid storage tanks.