Shake Table Test of Cylindrical Water Tanks in Base‐Isolated Structures

Abstract

This paper presents the experimental results obtained from the study of two similar cylindrical water tanks. One of the tanks was directly fixed to the earthquake simulator, the other was mounted on the base of a scaled nine‐story steel structure. The structure was isolated on eight multilayered elastomeric bearings. Due to the reduction in the ground accelerations, the dynamic pressure is reduced for the tank in the isolated structure. Free‐surface water elevation was slightly increased due to the lower frequency that characterizes the motion of base‐isolated structures. This problem can be overcome by appropriate selection of the isolation system or by the addition of dampers at the location of maximum water particle velocities. A theoretical solution developed from linear wave theory correlates very well with the experimental results. Further study is carried out to investigate the advantages of using base isolation for large storage tanks.