Demonstration Document

Seismic Analysis of a Cylindrical LNG Tank

Disclaimer
This report summarises the main steps taken with the Strand7 Finite Element Analysis System for the seismic analysis
of a Cylindrical LNG Tank. The information contained herein has been prepared only for the purpose of
demonstration. It should not be used for any engineering design work and nothing should be inferred from its
results or conclusion.

Introduction
This document illustrates how to construct and analyse in Strand7, a model of an LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas)
filled concrete tank resting on buried piles, and subjected to a horizontal earthquake base acceleration. The
modelling procedure comprises of three main steps creating the tank, filling it with fluid and attaching the piles.
The completed model is analysed for its natural frequency modes and its dynamic response to an El Centro N-S base
excitation. In addition, the fluid is analysed for its sloshing modes in isolation from the rest of the model and the
results are compared to those obtained from a theoretical approach.

Create the Tank

Create a new model,
Choose SI units.

Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited 1

 Demonstration Document

Choose Global/Coordinate Systems,

Create a Cylindrical UCS of XY type at (0,0,0).
This will create a cylindrical UCS, which will be referred to often
throughout the modelling process.

Create a set of nodes referenced to the cylindrical UCS:

Nodes R Z Nodes R Z

1 40 0 0 7 44 0 43

2 43.8 0 0 8 42.2 0 43.2

3 44 0 0 9 40 0 44

4 44 0 0.2 10 21.3 0 51

5 44 0 2 11 0 0 53.5

6 44 0 40

Choose View/Angles and change to a ZX Plane view.

2 Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited

Demonstration Document

Create Beam2 elements to join these nodes together:

Nodes 1-2: Property 1
Nodes 2-3: Property 1
Nodes 3-4: Property 2
Nodes 4-5: Property 2
Nodes 5-6: Property 3
Nodes 6-7: Property 2
Nodes 7-8: Property 6
Nodes 8-9: Property 6
Choose Tools/Points and Lines,
Create a line of beams with Property Type 99 to form a
Parabola in 12 steps, defined by Nodes 9, 10, and 11.

All Property 99 beams are just construction elements and will

be removed from the model in later stages.
Choose Tools/Subdivide, and subdivide:
Beam 1 into 3 divisions
Beam 4 into 2 divisions
Beam 5 into 14 divisions
Beam 6 into 2 divisions

Choose Tools/Extrude/by Increment,

Extrude all beams in the cylindrical UCS by 60/18
degree in ,
Repeat 18 times,
Erase the source.

Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited 3

 Demonstration Document

Choose Attributes/Plates/Property Type,

Change the selected plates to Property Type 4 as shown,
Note: make use of the Select/by Region tool.

Create a node at (0,0,0) cylindrical UCS reference.

Then create a Quad8 plate element of Property 5,
Click on the four corner nodes as shown and then click All
(Automatic Midside Nodes) in reference to the cylindrical
UCS.

Choose Tools/Geometry Tools/Face from Plate,

Convert the newly created Quad8 element into a geometry face, with the
settings shown.

4 Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited

Demonstration Document

Choose Attributes/Vertex/Mesh Size, and use

2.32678 m mesh size on all four vertices.
Choose Tools/Automeshing/Surface Mesh,
and mesh with a Maximum Edge Length of
2.32678 m.

The idea is to create a compatible mesh as regular as

possible.

Show Plate Free Edges ,

Choose Tools/Clean/Mesh to zip up the edges at the bottom of the tank,
use 0.001 Relative tolerance.

Use Select/by Property to select all Property 99

plates,
Choose Tools/Copy/by Projection/to Entity Face,
Click Assign selected,
Set direction to be Parallel, from bottom to top in the
centre,
Set Property Increment to 1,
Then use Select/by Property to select all the Property
5 plates,
Click Apply.
All Property 99 plates can now be deleted.
Choose Tools/Clean/Mesh and perform a default clean
if necessary.
The idea is to replace the mesh on the roof with those of
higher quality.

Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited 5

 Demonstration Document

The model should now look like the adjacent figure.

Choose Tools/Align/Plate Normals,

Make sure the normals are consistent and that the
positive surfaces point outwards.
Choose View/Entity Display and set to Orientation
display mode to check.

Now the 60deg section of the model can be copied or mirrored a few times to obtain a full model. The full
model is necessary in dynamic analyses to properly capture the vibrational mode shapes. This is because models
exploiting symmetry are only able to capture symmetrical mode shapes; in other words, all asymmetrical modes
will be overlooked if a symmetrical model is used.

Select all plate elements and choose Tools/Copy/by

Increment and copy all the plates by an increment
of 60 degree in and repeat 5 times.
Alternatively, use Tools/Mirror to obtain a full
model.
Choose Property/Beam, and click Delete unused
properties,
Also delete any unused properties for
Property/Plate.

The model should now look like the adjacent figure.

6 Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited

Demonstration Document

Now define the properties as follows:

3
Name Modulus (Pa) Poissons Ratio Density (kg/m ) Thickness (m)
9
Property 1 Base Outer 26 x 10 0.2 2450 2.0
9
Property 2 Buttress + Wall 28 x 10 0.2 2500 2.0
9
Property 3 Wall 28 x 10 0.2 2500 0.8
9
Property 4 Ring + Wall 28 x 10 0.2 2500 1.4
9
Property 5 Base Inner 26 x 10 0.2 2450 1.7
9
Property 6 Roof 26 x 10 0.2 2450 1.6

Choose Attributes/Plate/Offset, and offset the plates accordingly:

Property 1 by 0.15 m
Property 2 by 0.6 m
Property 4 by 0.3 m

Create the Fluid

Hide plates with Properties 1 to 6,
Choose Tools/Extrude/by Increment to extrude the origin node (0,0,0) in Global X by 43.8 m to create a
Property Type 7 beam.
Then extrude this beam in Global Y by 43.8 m to create a plate.
This plate will be horizontal and will be modified and extruded vertically upwards to form a brick mesh of the fluid
elements.

Choose Tools/Grade Plates and Bricks,

and use the Full Quarter Circle Cut

to grade this newly created plate

element. Make sure to select the correct
edges for this operation.
Choose Tools/Mirror and mirror this
quarter circle twice in the YZ and ZX
planes successively.
Choose Tools/Move/by Increment and
move these Property 7 plates in Z by 0.2
m to create a small gap between tank
floor and fluid bottom.
Choose Tools/Move/to Absolute and move the perimeter nodes in R to 43.8 m such that the fluid bottom
becomes circular.
Choose Tools/Subdivide, and subdivide these Property 7 plates 3 by 3 in both A and B directions respectively.
Choose Tools/Extrude/by Increment and extrude these plates in Z by an increment of 35/5 m, repeat 5 times
and Erase the source.

Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited 7

 Demonstration Document

Use Select/Brick Faces to select the brick faces on the

wall and base,
Then choose Attributes/Brick/Attachment, and apply a
Flexible type attachment with the settings shown:
Property 99 beams and a Max Gap of 0.25 m.
Note: All Property 99 beams are just construction elements
and will be converted into Master/Slave links in following
steps.

Choose Tools/Attach Parts,

Select all brick elements and show all the plate elements,
Attach the parts according to the settings shown in the dialog.

Choose Tools/Convert/Beams to/from Links,

Select all Property 99 beams and convert them to Master/Slave links.

Select all Master/Slave links and choose Attributes/Link/Type and change all into DR type links.
Then use Select/by Region to select then change the Master/Slave links at the base to DZ type.
In other words, change all horizontal links to DR type and all vertical links to DZ type. This will enforce the fluid-
tank interaction while allowing the fluid to slide on all surfaces.

8 Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited

Demonstration Document

Horizontal Master-Slave Links Vertical Master-Slave Links

Choose Property/Bricks and define Property 7 as Fluid material with a Bulk Modulus of 145 x 109 Pa
(estimated) and a Density of 480 kg/m .
3

Create the Piles

Copy Node 2 (43.8,0,0) using the cylindrical UCS, in Z by 0.2 m.
Extrude this newly created node in Z by 8 m, forming a Property 1 beam.
Extrude the node at the lower end of this newly created beam in Z by 22 m, forming a Property 2 beam.
Extrude the node at the lower end of this Property 2 beam in Z by 3 m, forming a Property 3 beam.
Lastly, extrude the node at the lower end of Property 3 beam in Z by 3 m to form a Property 4 beam.
This creates the first pile in the model. Note that the pile is purposely left disconnected from the bottom of the tank
due to incompatibility between the piles arrangement and the plate mesh. The piles will be attached to the tank in
the next steps.
Copy this first pile in R by an increment of 3.8 m.

Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited 9

 Demonstration Document

Copy the two piles 12 times in by an increment of

90/12 degree.

Set Global XYZ as the active coordinate system,

Then right-click on Show Snap Grid to bring up

Grid Settings dialog.
Set the number of grids to 6 and the limits to 40 for
both X and Y,
Fix the plane at 0.2 in Z.
Click OK.

10 Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited

Demonstration Document

Choose View/Angles, and set to

XY Plane angle,
Choose View/Options, and set
the Perspective to 0% under the
Drawing tab,
Choose Create/Node and click
on the appropriate positions on
the grid to create nodes for the
central piles.
These nodes will be extruded to form
the central piles.

Select these newly created nodes and extrude

them to form the central piles similar to the
steps of creating the first pile:
Extrude in Z by 8 m to form Property 1
beams.
And extrude in Z by 22 m to form
connecting Property 2 beams.
Then extrude in Z by 3 m to form
connecting Property 3 beams.
Finally, extrude in Z by 3 m to form
connecting Property 4 beams.

Select all the beams and mirror them twice to form a full circle of central and outer piles. Or copy them in
three times with an increment of 90 degrees, whichever is easier.
Choose Tools/Clean/Mesh and clean the mesh with default settings to remove duplicate beams.

Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited 11

 Demonstration Document

Choose Attributes/Beam/Attachment and use

Select/by Region with Select partially enclosed
set to select the top end of all Property 1 beams,
Apply the end attachment attribute, using Direct
Pinned connection with a Max Gap of 0.25 m as
the options.
A 0.2 m gap was purposely introduced in the very first
step of pile creation; therefore, a Max Gap of 0.25 m is
expected to detect and attach the elements together.

Choose Tools/Attach Parts,

Select all beam elements and show all the plate elements, attach the parts
together according to the settings shown in the dialog.

Choose Attributes/Beam/Support apply the followings support stiffness to the beams (apply the same value in
both directions on the beams):

Support N/m/m
8
Property 1 1.15592 x 10
8
Property 2 1.25931 x 10
8
Property 3 2.64947 x 10
8
Property 4 3.7699 x 10

12 Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited

Demonstration Document

Choose Property/Beam and define the piles properties:

Name Material Section Diameter (m) Thickness (m)

Property 1 Pile Fill Structural Steel Hollow Circular 0.914 0.016

Property 2 Pile Sand Structural Steel Hollow Circular 0.914 0.016

Property 3 Pile Gravel Structural Steel Hollow Circular 0.914 0.016

Property 4 Pile Weathered Soil Structural Steel Hollow Circular 0.914 0.016

Completing the Model

Choose Attributes/Node/Restraint and apply restraints (DX, DY, DZ, RZ) to the very bottom of the piles.
Choose Global/Load
and Freedom Cases
and define the gravity
load case.

Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited 13

 Demonstration Document

Choose Tables/Acceleration vs Time and create an El Centro North-South earthquake accelerogram. Import
the data if available.

Final model should look like this.

14 Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited

Demonstration Document

Natural Frequency Analysis

Fluid with stiff tank only:
A copy of the model is created and the piles and tank roof are removed. The tank walls are converted into thicker
steel walls to create a relatively stiff tank.
Choose Solver/Natural Frequency,
Click Soil/Fluid Options and select the Gravity load case,
Set the number of Modes to 30.
Under the Defaults tab Eigenvalue section, increase Iteration Limit to 50 and Expand working set by 10.
Click Solve.
Theoretical solution for the sloshing frequency in an upright cylinder with radius R and height h is [1]:

g h
m,n = m,n tanh m,n
R R

where m and n are the orders of the circumferential and radial waves respectively, and m,n is the n root of the first
th

derivative of the Bessel function of the first kind of order m. These roots are given in [2] as:

m,n m=0 m=1 m=2 m=3 m=4

n=1 3.8317 1.8412 3.0542 4.2012 5.3176

n=2 7.0156 5.3314 6.7061 8.0152 9.2824

n=3 10.173 8.5363 9.9695 11.346 12.682

A comparison between Strand7 results and the theoretical solution is tabulated:

Modes Strand7 Theory Difference Modes Strand7 Theory Difference

(n,m) (Hz) (Hz) (n,m) (Hz) (Hz)

(1,1) 0.09595 0.09693 1.0 % (2,2) 0.1863 0.19502 4.4 %

(1,2) 0.1274 0.13062 2.4 % (2,0) 0.1906 0.19947 4.4 %

(1,0) 0.1417 0.14709 3.6 % (2,3) 0.2047 0.21321 3.9 %

(1,3) 0.1481 0.15417 3.9 % (3,1) 0.2179 0.22003 0.9 %

(1,4) 0.1664 0.17363 4.1 % (2,4) 0.2280 0.22944 0.6 %

(2,1) 0.1652 0.17385 4.9 %

Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited 15

 Demonstration Document

The three-dimensional mode shapes are shown as follows:

16 Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited

Demonstration Document

Concrete tank only:

A copy of the model is created and fluid is removed.
Choose Solver/Natural Frequency,
Set the number of Modes to 20.
Under Defaults tab Eigenvalue section, increase the Iteration Limit to 50 and Expand working set by 10.
Click Solve.
Some vibrational modes are:

Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited 17

 Demonstration Document

Full model:
Choose Solver/Natural Frequency,
Click Soil/Fluid Options and select the Gravity load case.
Under Defaults tab Eigenvalue section, increase the Iteration Limit to 100 and Expand working set by 20.
Set the number of Modes to 30 and apply a 2.5 and 4.0 Hz shifts and solve for separate results file respectively.
The vibrations below 1Hz are likely to be the fluid only sloshing dominant modes while the vibrations closer to the
fundamental frequency of the tank will more likely be some fluid-tank interaction dominant modes.
The results file name can be set under the Files tab on the solver dialog.

Mode A is similar to Structural Mode II in the previous section but the extra mass contribution from the fluid has
lowered its overall frequency. The vibrational shape on the wall is also affected by the addition of the fluid due to its
interaction with the tank wall. Mode B is another example of this effect with respect to Structural Mode IV in the
previous section.
Note: If the higher order mode shapes of the fluid are required to be captured accurately, it is then necessary to
refine the fluid mesh further.

Mode C is a typical fluid-structure interaction mode of which the vibrations mainly occur at the tank wall.

18 Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited

Demonstration Document

Linear Transient Dynamic Analysis

Choose Solver/Linear Static Solver and click Solve. This will create an initial condition file for the transient
solution.
Choose Solver/Linear
Transient Dynamic,
Use the Full System method,
Set Rayleigh Damping with
damping ratio of 0.05 ranged
from 0.1 Hz to 1 Hz.
If damping is not applied, the higher
order modes will be easily excited
and many small ripples will form on
the fluid surface.

Click Initial Conditions and use the

linear static results file.

Set the time steps similar to the Acceleration vs Time

table, i.e. 2685 steps of 0.02 s intervals.
The Load Tables section should include both the
Gravity and Freedom Case 1, without any tables
assigned.
This will apply the gravity as a constant load throughout the
time history.

Click Base Acceleration and assign

the Acceleration vs Time table to
one of the horizontal axes.

Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited 19

 Demonstration Document

Click Soil/Fluid Options and select the Gravity load case.

Click Solve.
Open the results file then choose Results/Graphs.
Create vs Results Case graphs:
Sloshing Height: Vertical displacements (DZ) of the fluid at the perimeter in the direction of excitation.

It is apparent that the frequency of the longest waves is in agreement with the lowest sloshing frequency of the fluid
calculated in the previous chapter, i.e. approximately 0.1 Hz. Combinations of the higher order waves in this
seismic response are expected due to the wide range of excitation frequencies in the El Centro accelerogram. Yet,
these higher order vibrations in the response are mostly damped out.

On the right is the animation of the entire time

history of the LNG tank under the El Centro NS
earthquake actions.
The marked buoy represents Node 5577 of the
model and phases A, B and C are noted in the
animation.
Displacement Scale: Absolute 20.0

Clickto
Click to Animate
Animate

20 Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited

Demonstration Document

Roof Top: Horizontal displacements (DY) at the middle of the roof.

Ring Upper: Horizontal displacements (DY) at the upper node of the ring in the direction of excitation.

The seismic response is offset in this graph because the structure has initially settled down due to gravity. The tank
is bulging outwards due to the hydrostatic pressure exerted on the wall by the fluid. This effect can be captured in
the very first time step if the initial condition file is included.

Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited 21

 Demonstration Document

Wall Mid-height: Horizontal displacements (DY) at mid-height of tank wall in the direction of excitation.

The hoop and vertical stresses in the concrete tank can be contoured, choose Results/Results Settings:
The maximum roof displacement occurs at t = 2.26 s, and the corresponding stress state in the tank is of interest.

Shown on the right is the

membrane Hoop Stress
contour of the concrete
tank at 2.26 s after the start
of the excitation.
The stresses are
discontinuous over the
Ring and Buttress due to a
change in thickness. The
stresses at such interfaces
have not been averaged in
this contour.

22 Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited

Demonstration Document

Shown on the right is the

membrane Vertical Stress
contour of the concrete at
2.26 s after the excitation
started.
Note: Nonlinear Material is
not considered in this
demonstration analysis.
The through thickness
stress variations can be
studied by displaying the
plate elements in Solid
mode.

Transient Sloshing Modes:

In this section, the fluid sloshing modes are revisited using the Linear Transient Dynamic solver.
Use the Fluid with stiff tank model used in the previous chapter.
Choose Tables/Acceleration vs Time and create the following tables, corresponding to the first circumferential
waves of the first two radial modes (n=1,m=1 and n=2,m=1).

Tables Function Time Range (s) Sampling Range

1: Excitation 0.096 Hz 9.80665/50*SIN(2*PI*0.096*X) 0 200 1 1000

2: Excitation 0.205 Hz 9.80665/50*SIN(2*PI*0.205*X) 0 200 1 1000

Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited 23

 Demonstration Document

Choose Solver/Linear Transient Dynamic and set up the solver similar to the previous section:
Solve for linear static results and set the initial conditions,
Use 1000 steps (or fewer if appropriate) of 0.2 s time step,
Assign the Acceleration vs Time table.
Use Full System method, and clear the Damping.
Solve the model with the four Acceleration vs Time tables respectively and investigate the responses.
Make use of the Batch Solver if necessary.

On the right is the animation of the first

sloshing mode of the first order vibration of
the fluid excited at 0.096 Hz. This is
obtained from the linear transient solution.
The amplification of the response is evident
at this frequency.
The sloshing mode is in agreement with the
natural frequency results.
The marked buoy represents Node 5037.
Displacement Scale: Absolute 1.0

Clickto
Click toAnimate
Animate

The DZ of this location over time is recorded as follows.

24 Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited

Demonstration Document

On the right is the animation of the first

sloshing mode of the second order vibration
of the fluid excited at 0.205 Hz. This is
obtained from the linear transient solution.
The sloshing mode is in agreement with the
natural frequency results.
The black and white buoys correspond to
Node 5937 and Node 5867 respectively.
Displacement Scale: Absolute 10.0

Clickto
Click to Animate
Animate

The DZ of both locations over time is recorded as follows. The peaks of both waves can be seen out of phase,
which represents the first order circumferential waves of the second order radial mode shapes.

Reference
[1] Abramson HN (ed.). The dynamic behaviour of liquids in moving tanks. NASA SP-106, 1966.
[2] Abramowitz, M. and Stegun, I.A. (eds.). Zeros. Handbook of mathematical functions with formulas, graphs,
and mathematical tables. New York: Dover, pp.370-374, 1972.

Presented by Strand7 Pty Limited 25