Dynamic Response of A Group of Cylindrical Storage Tanks with Baffles Considering the Effect of Soil Foundation

The sloshing in a group of rigid cylindrical tanks with baffles and on soil foundation under horizontal excitation is studied analytically.The solutions for the velocity potential are derived out by the liquid subdomain method.Equivalent models with mass-spring oscillators are established to replace continuous fluid.Combined with the least square technique,Chebyshev polynomials are employed to fit horizontal,rocking and horizontal-rocking coupling impedances of soil,respectively.A lumped parameter model for impedance is presented to describe the effects of soil on tank structures.A mechanical model for the soil-foundation-tank-liquid-baffle system with small amount of calculation and high accuracy is proposed using the substructure technique.The analytical solutions are in comparison with data from reported literature and numerical codes to validate the effectiveness and correctness of the model.Detailed dynamic properties and seismic responses of the soil-tank system are given for the baffle number,size and location as well as soil parameter.

Experimental Investigation on the Effect of Seal Presence on the Behavior of Double-Deck Floating Roofs in Cylindrical Steel Storage Tanks

Liquid storage,particularly oil and petrochemical products which are considered hazardous liquid,are an important part of the oil industry.Thin-walled vertical cylindrical steel storage tanks are widely used in recent years.Due to high sensitivity of these structures in an earthquake and other external excitations may lead to catastrophic consequences.For instance,huge economic losses,environmental damages,and casualities,many studies have been done about these structures.past studies showed that liquid storage tanks,equipped with a floating roof,are potentially vulnerable while subjected to seismic loads and earthquake has been considered as one of the most destructive natural hazards.The reason is that such tanks are made of two separated parts(shell and roof)which each may have its own responses;sometimes causing resonance phenomenon and so that,roof movements,rooffluid interaction,roof-shell interaction,and also the way they are attached should still be investigated.Experimental tests of floating roof’s vertical fluctuation was performed in a full-scale reservoir tank and assessing of the results demonstrated that presence of a seal between floating roof and shell plate can significantly increase damping ratio in liquid sloshing and also suppress the roof`s vertical displacements.In other words,seal can control a floating roof and make it stop moving vertically over few cycles.

Corrosion of Basic Refractories for Glass Tanks Using Petrol Coke and Countermeasures

Replacing heavy oil with petrol coke can greatly reduce the cost of glass production,but obviously shorten the service life of refractories used in the regenerator checker body of glass tanks.To prolong the service life of the regenerator checker body,the slag chemical composition and alkali-sulfur ratio of glass tanks after using petrol coke and the damage mechanism of the residual magnesia bricks in the regenerator checker body were studied,as well as the corrosion resistance of three magnesia based bricks(direct bonded magnesia chrome bricks,fused rebonded magnesia chrome bricks,and fused rebonded high-purity magnesium aluminate spinel bricks).On this basis,a series of targeted countermeasures were adopted to optimize the configuration of refractories,significantly improving the service life of checker bricks and meeting the requirements of glass industry development.

Theoretical Analysis of Biogas Production from Septic Tanks: The Case of the City of Kinshasa

As many think that respect for the environment, is not only a question intended for industrialists but has all the sectors of life, in particular sanitary also. In this regard, our article brings alternative management of human waste (excrement) to solve the problems that plague our dear beautiful capital, namely: 1) Lack of latrines that meet the standards;2) Emptying of septic tanks directly into the gutters and;3) Water pollution by sewage csompanies. In order to carry out the cartographic analysis of the study area, we used Shapefile data from the OpenStreetMap, Diva-Gis. These different data allowed us, analyzed, to categorize with the software ArArcGIS 0.8.1 to produce different zones according to the cases incurred in the city of Kinshasa. To do this, the analytical method uses the Buswell equation to determine the amount of gas contained in human excrement. Focusing on the analysis of the excrements produced by the population of age superior to 10 years, for 2023, we obtained: 138355.7283 m3/day of CH4 (885476.66 kWh/day or 885.476 MWh/day), which, energy can light: 138,355 lamps of 60 to 100 W for six hours or nearly 70,000 lamps of 60 to 100 W for 12 hours. Considering the last one which offers the lowest access rate, i.e. 3% of the district population to these latrines, we have: a) In Tshangu, we produce: 1618.762 3>/day (10360.07 kWh/day or 10.36 MWh/day) which can light nearly 1600 lamps from 60 to 100 W for six hours or nearly 800 lamps from 60 to 100 W for twelve hours. b) Mont-Amba, we produce 1402.927 3>/day (8978.73 kWh/day or 8.97 MWh/day) which can light nearly 1400 lamps from 60 to 100 W for six hours or nearly 700 lamps from 60 to 100 W for twelve hours;c) In Lukunga, we produce: 946.35 3>/day (6056.66 kWh/day or 6.056 MWh/day) which can light nearly 900 lamps from 60 to 100 W for six hours or nearly 450 lamps from 60 to 100 W for twelve hours. d) Funa, we produce: 182.629 3>/day (1168.83 kWh/day or 1.17 MWh/day) which can light almost 180 lamps from 60 to 100 W for six hours or almost 90 lamps from 60 to 100 W for twelve hours.

基于Tanks 4.0.9d模型的储罐VOCs排放特征定量研究

基于美国EPA发布的Tanks 4.0.9d模型,对储罐VOCs的排放特征及影响因素进行定量研究,并分析与实测数据的差异。研究表明:储罐VOCs排放受结构特征、环境因素及操作条件的影响;内浮顶罐VOCs排放量最小,固定顶罐VOCs排放量是内浮顶罐的110.5倍;对罐外壁修补白色的底漆,定时进行水喷淋或设置隔热挡板,罐内壁使用防锈防腐材料涂层;运用LDAR(泄漏检测与修复)技术对储罐及其配件进行定期定量的泄漏排查并及时修复等方式均是减少储罐VOCs排放的措施。实地监测得到的VOCs排放量高于模型计算结果,内浮顶汽油罐实测数据是模型计算结果的3.5倍,实测与模型计算等核算方法均存在局限性,建议相关部门根据我国的实际情况开发相应的计算软件,对核算公式进行优化。

Seismic assessment of unanchored steel storage tanks by endurance time method

Liquid storage tanks are essential structures that are often located in residential and industrial areas; thus an assessment of their seismic performance is an important engineering issue. In this paper, the seismic response ofunanchored steel liquid storage tanks is investigated using the endurance time （ET） dynamic analysis procedure and compared to responses obtained for anchored tanks under actual ground motions and intensifying ET records. In most cases, the results from ground motions are properly obtained with negligible differences using ET records. It is observed that uplifting of the tank base, which is closely related to the tank aspect ratio, has the greatest significance in the responses of the tank and can be predicted with reasonable accuracy by using currently available ET records.

Coupling dynamic analysis of spacecraft with multiple cylindrical tanks and flexible appendages

This paper is mainly concerned with the coupling dynamic analysis of a complex spacecraft consisting of one main rigid platform, multiple liquid-filled cylindrical tanks, and a number of flexible appendages. Firstly, the carrier potential function equations of liquid in the tanks are deduced according to the wall boundary conditions. Through employ- ing the Fourier-Bessel series expansion method, the dynamic boundaries conditions on a curved free-surface under a low-gravity environment are transformed to general simple differential equations and the rigid-liquid coupled sloshing dynamic state equations of liquid in tanks are obtained. The state vectors of rigid-liquid coupled equations are composed with the modal coordinates of the relative potential func- tion and the modal coordinates of wave height. Based on the B ernoulli-Euler beam theory and the D＇Alembert＇s prin- ciple, the rigid-flexible coupled dynamic state equations of flexible appendages are directly derived, and the coordi- nate transform matrixes of maneuvering flexible appendages are precisely computed as time-varying. Then, the cou- pling dynamics state equations of the overall system of the spacecraft are modularly built by means of the Lagrange＇s equations in terms of quasi-coordinates. Lastly, the cou-piing dynamic performances of a typical complex spacecraft are studied. The availability and reliability of the presented method are also confirmed.

A Neuro-fuzzy-sliding Mode Controller Using Nonlinear Sliding Surface Applied to the Coupled Tanks System

The aim of this paper is to develop a neuro-fuzzy-sliding mode controller （NFSMC） with a nonlinear sliding surface for a coupled tank system. The main purpose is to eliminate the chattering phenomenon and to overcome the problem of the equivalent control computation. A first-order nonlinear sliding surface is presented, on which the developed sliding mode controller （SMC） is based. Mathematical proof for the stability and convergence of the system is presented. In order to reduce the chattering in SMC, a fixed boundary layer around the switch surface is used. Within the boundary layer, where the fuzzy logic control is applied, the chattering phenomenon, which is inherent in a sliding mode control, is avoided by smoothing the switch signal. Outside the boundary, the sliding mode control is applied to drive the system states into the boundary layer. Moreover, to compute the equivalent controller, a feed-forward neural network （NN） is used. The weights of the net are updated such that the corrective control term of the NFSMC goes to zero. Then, this NN also alleviates the chattering phenomenon because a big gain in the corrective control term produces a more serious chattering than a small gain. Experimental studies carried out on a coupled tank system indicate that the proposed approach is good for control applications.

Improving the seismic performance of base-isolated liquid storage tanks with supplemental linear viscous dampers

Large tanks are extensively used for storing water,petrochemicals and fuels.Since they are often cited in earthquake-prone areas,the safe and continuous operation of these important structures must be ensured even when severe earthquakes occur,since their failure could have devastating financial and socio-environmental consequences.Base-isolation has been widely adopted for the efficient seismic protection of such critical facilities.However,base-isolated tanks can be located relatively close to active faults that generate strong excitations with special characteristics.Consequently,viscous dampers can be incorporated into the isolation system to reduce excessive displacement demands and to avoid overconservative isolator design.Nonetheless,only a few studies have focused on the investigation of seismic response of base-isolated liquid storage tanks in conjunction with supplemental viscous dampers.Therefore,the impact of the addition of supplemental linear viscous dampers on the seismic performance of tanks isolated by single friction pendulum devices is investigated herein.Four levels of supplemental damping are assessed and compared with respect to isolators′displacement capacity and accelerations that are transferred to the tanks.

Experimental Investigations of Various Methods of Sludge Measurements in Storage Oil Tanks

This article describes the results of experimental studies into various methods of measuring sludge volume and its 3D spatial distribution using a base of data received from the inspection of more than 30 storage tanks of different types: external floating roof, internal floating roof and fixed roof. The advantages and disadvantages of making measurements with existing methods are discussed, including the problem of accuracy. Numerous examples of tank survey results are presented.

An Expanded Optimal Control Policy for a Coupled Tanks System with Random Disturbance

In this paper, an expanded optimal control policy is proposed to study the coupled tanks system, where the random disturbance is added into the system. Since the dynamics of the coupled tanks system can be formulated as a nonlinear system, determination of the optimal water level in the tanks is useful for the operation decision. On this point of view, the coupled tanks system dynamics is usually linearized to give the steady state operating height. In our approach, a model-based optimal control problem, which is adding with adjusted parameters, is considered to obtain the true operating height of the real coupled tanks system. During the computation procedure, the differences between the real plant and the model used are measured repeatedly, where the optimal solution of the model used is updated. On this basis, system optimization and parameter estimation are integrated. At the end of the iteration, the iterative solution approximates to the correct optimal solution of the original optimal control problem, in spite of model-reality differences. In conclusion, the efficiency of the approach proposed is shown.

The Features of Acoustic Bathymetry of Sludge in Oil Storage Tanks

The features of acoustic bathymetry of sludge in crude oil tanks are considered. Different parameters of crude oil and sludge which are important for the selection of acoustic parameters such as sound speed, the acoustic impedances of “oil-sludge” boundaries and sound attenuation are analyzed and compared with experimental data. The main sources of errors of sludge volume estimation are discussed.

VIBRATION CHARACTERISTICS OF OFFSHORE CYLINDRICAL TANKS

The vibration characteristics of offshore cylindrical tanks are studied in this paper. This is a typical topic of liquid-shell interaction system. In this paper, a general analytical method is presented by which the axial modal functions of liquid and shell are represented as the same complete orthogonal series for uncoupling the mode of liquid and shell. Simultaneously, the mode functions are expanded into a uniform convergence series and a linear polynomial, so that the problem of convergence and differentiation of mode series is solved. Therefore, the rather exact natural frequency and its corresponding mode of offshore cylindrical tank with different liquid depths, with arbitrary boundary conditions and with intermediate constraints can be obtained.

GPR Tomographic Imaging of Concrete Tubes and Steel/Plastic Tanks Buried in IAG/USP Geophysical Test Site, Brazil

In this paper, the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) method was used to characterize concrete tubes and steel/plastic tanks buried in IAG/USP test site. The microwave tomography was used to improve the GPR images, aiming to retrieve the geometry of the targets. The numerical modeling studies also were done in order to predict the GPR results of the buried targets and to give more reliability to the results interpretation. The targets were installed in the first shallow geophysical test site of the Brazil located at Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics, and Atmospheric Science (IAG) of the University of S?o Paulo (USP). GPR profiles of 200 MHz (shielded bistatic antennas) were acquired along three lines containing concrete tubes and steel/plastic tanks buried in subsoil. The concrete tubes show a hyperbolic reflector for the top, and the vertical tube also presented a reflection on its bottom. The horizontal steel tanks were characterized by a strong GPR reflection on their top. The empty plastic tank shows a strong reflector for the top with normal polarity. On the other hand, the plastic tank filled with water shows a weaker reflector for its top characterized by the inverted polarity of GPR signal when compared with empty plastic tank. The plastic tank filled with water also went characterized by the strong reflection to its bottom, being a good indicative to interpret GPR data on target in subsoil with some types of fluid inside of tank. The results of polarity difference for the top of tank can be used as guide pattern to identify buried tank empty or filled with water. The application of microwave tomography to the GPR data permitted to determine the position and get a good identification of the edges of the targets studied. The numeric modeling presented a good accordance with real data reducing the ambiguities in interpretation of results. These results can be used as a reference, and they can be extrapolated for areas where there is no subsurface information.

An Experiment on Releasing Water from Water Tanks by Xu Youzhen during the Ming Dynasty

In 1453,Xu Youzhen,a scholar-bureaucrat and hydrologist in Ming China,was dispatched to Shandong to find a way to harness the Yellow River.He proposed the opening up of multiple channels to diverge the flood waters.An experiment was conducted to compare the efficiency of releasing water using one large opening with the use of a number of small openings.This experiment proved that opening up multiple channels outperformed the construction of only one,thereby convincing the emperor and officials of the efficacy of this method.Xu’s method for water control proved to be successful in averting a flood that occurred in 1456.

Survey on Storage of Water for Domestic Use in Underground Reinforced Concrete Tanks: The Case of Brazzaville (Republic of Congo)

The problem of water supply from the public distribution network still poses very serious problems in many cities in developing countries. Intermittent water supply pushes some households to build underground reinforced concrete tanks for water storage to cope with unwanted water breaks. This study that relies on the results of a survey of households in some areas of the city of Brazzaville (Republic of Congo) aims to verify the importance that users attach to the quality of the works constructed. Indeed, the reliability of the tanks resulting in their impermeability to the external environment has a direct impact on the quality of stored water and therefore the use that is made of water daily. Five areas were selected because of their soil moisture. By 256 tanks identified, 143 are made of reinforced concrete and 113 in masonry. The coating materials used to seal the walls are preferably the earthenware tiles (64% of tanks), then the Sika cement (31%). Food painting (5%) is only rarely used. However, 66% of households are not assured of the potability of the water stored. A significant number of households (46%) think that the stored water could be contaminated with noxious substances seeping from the outside through the walls of the tanks. The issue of sealing of underground water tanks, especially in areas where the water table is shallow, seems concerned users.

Life Cycle Assessment of Household Water Tanks—A Study of LLDPE, Mild Steel and RCC Tanks

A case of household water tanks, 1000 L capacity, made of RCC, LLDPE and mild steel (stainless steel) was evaluated for life cycle analysis. The scope of the research comprised of the raw materials, energy inputs and corresponding emissions during all phases of product making such as extraction of raw material, it’s processing, followed by manufacturing and transport, as well as use and reuse of the product. Simapro 8 (System for Integrated environMental Assessment of PROducts), a modelling software, from Dutch PRé Consultants was used to conduct the life cycle analysis. Simapro 8 enables systematic and transparent modelling and analysis of complex life cycles based on the recommendations of the ISO 14040 series of standards. In the present study the most common method which is acceptable worldwide “Recipe Endpoint method” (ReCiPe) was employed. ReCiPe computes the impact categories and classifies them into two classes based on relevant arrays of characterization factors. Simapro addresses impact categories viz. ozone depletion, human toxicity, ionizing radiation, photochemical oxidant formation, particulate matter formation, terrestrial acidification, climate change, terrestrial ecotoxicity, agricultural land occupation, urban land occupation, natural land transformation, marine ecotoxicity, marine eutrophication, fresh water eutrophication, fresh water ecotoxicity, fossil fuel depletion, minerals depletion, fresh water depletion at the midpoint level. While at the Endpoint level, the impact categories are multiplied by corresponding damage factors and integrated to be represented as three Endpoint level categories, viz. human health, ecosystems and resource depletion. The three endpoint categories are normalized, weighted, and aggregated into a single score. LCA studies indicate that household water tanks of LLDPE have least environmental implications considering impacts on human health, ecosystems and resource depletion as compared to its counterparts viz. Household water tanks made up of mild steel and RCC. The sequence of the material with decreasing impacts is concrete tanks > mild steel tank > LLDPE tanks. The overall assessment is centred on the elements such as material inputs, energy inputs and environmental emissions.

Covering Rearing Tanks Improves Brown Trout Growth and Feed Conversion

Although an important part of the natural environment of fish, overhead cover is usually absent during hatchery rearing. To evaluate the possible influence of overhead cover on juvenile brown trout Salmo trutta hatchery rearing performance, this study compared three different cover treatments: near-full (98%) cover, partial (65%) cover, and no cover (completely open). After 12 weeks of rearing in 1.8 m-diameter circular tanks, total tank weight gain was significantly greater and feed conversion ratios were significantly less in tanks of brown trout that were either partially or near-totally covered, in comparison to those tanks that were completely open. The viscerosomatic index, hepatosomatic index, and splenosomatic index values were not significantly different among any of the treatments. Fin condition indices were also not significantly different. The use of either partial or full covers is recommended to maximize brown trout rearing efficiencies, with full covers providing the additional benefit of preventing fish from jumping out of the tanks.

Deformation Analysis of Gasoline Storage Tanks

This paper aims to study the deformations of the five tanks implanted in a Terminal located in the region of Pará,Brazil.Initially,the results of eight standard penetration tests(SPT),carried out around the construction area of the tanks,were analyzed to define a representative geological-geotechnical profile and estimate of geotechnical parameters of the local subsoil.The vertical deformations imposed by the construction of the tanks were predicted numerically from the PLAXIS 2D computational program,which performs stress-strain analysis using the finite element method.From the prediction of the settlements,it was possible to estimate the maximum settlements and the angular distortions for the foundations of the tanks,comparing with the admissible values.

BRICS POLITICAL PARTIES, THINK TANKS AND CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS TO CEMENT COOPERATION

The BRICS political parties,think tanks and civil society organizations Forum was held in Fuzhou,capital of southeast China’s Fujian Province,June 11-12,2017.The forum drew over 400 participants from BRICS and other developing countries.Heads of political parties,think tanks and civil society organiza-