International Journal of Mechanics and Solids

ISSN 0973-1881 Volume 3 Number 1 (2008) pp. 122

Research India Publications
http://www.ripublication.com/ijms.htm

An Overview on Some Ongoing Computational and

Experimental Campaigns on Vibration Control by
Liquid Tanks

Rui Carneiro de Barros1 and Ottavia Corbi2

1
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Porto, Portugal
2
Department of Structural Engineering, University of Naples

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to deepen some of the features related to the
application of Liquid Dampers for vibration control of engineering structures.
To this aim, both theoretical, numerical and experimental questions are dealt
with, finally giving an overview of in progress studies by the authors in the
specific research field. In details, some methodologies applied for analysis of
the seismic behaviour of existing bottom supported storage tanks, under
predominantly horizontal seismic actions are presented. Actually the full
understanding of the device behaviour and fluid-container interactions is
necessary for reliably analyzing and designing control devices based on liquid
dissipation. Moreover the paper reports some results obtained by means of an
experimental investigation developed on rigid blocks moving on a foundation
base subjected to a horizontal forcing function and equipped with some
rudimental Sloshing Water devices. Experimental data derived by means of a
shaking table facility are devoted to compare the dynamic response of the
blocks equipped or not with the devices for various liquid levels of the tanks,
in order to produce a first check of the possible effectiveness of such devices
on rigid structural models exhibiting a non-linear behaviour under dynamic
shaking.

Keywords: Structural dynamics, Vibration control, Liquid dampers,

Theoretical modeling, numerical and experimental investigations.

Introduction
The risk of occurrence of severe structural damage or failures during a catastrophic
event (eg. Earthquakes and hurricanes) can be reduced by adopting vibration control
2 Rui Carneiro de Barros and Ottavia Corbi

techniques, which, in most cases, aim at increasing the damping characteristics of

civil structures, as well known.
Between the many vibration control devices devoted to increase the damping skill
of the structure, tuned liquid dampers (TLD) [1,2] offer several advantages, including
low cost, easiness to install in existing structures and effectiveness even for small-
vibrations [3].
The performance of TLD relies on the sloshing of liquid contained in partially
filled tanks mounted on the structure, devoted to absorb and dissipate the vibration
energy of the structure [4]. The main action produced by liquid control devices
essentially consists of the shear force caused by the inertia of the liquid mass, which,
if suitably tuned, is able to perform a significant reduction of the structural response.
Because of its peculiar character, the evaluation of the performance, in terms of
energy dissipation, of a tuned sloshing damper requires the understanding of complex
fluid-structure interactions, which has motivated a number of theoretical and
experimental researches [5-16].
Theoretical models of liquid sloshing in TLDs deduced on a mechanical analogy
basis, as well as analytical models based on a complete mathematical treatment are
required for this purpose. On one side, simplified formulations generally provide
modelling of liquid sloshing in tanks, based on an equivalent mechanical analogy
which uses lumped masses, springs and dashpots to describe fluid motion. The
lumped parameters characterizing the equivalent mechanical model are determined
from the linear wave theory [6].
On the other side, more complex models require a complete mathematical
description of liquid motion and fluid/container interaction under dynamic conditions.
Actually the reliable prediction of dynamic response of control devices based on
fluid motion plays a central role for better understanding real perspectives offered by
TLD for applications in the field of intelligent structures, as regards to mitigation of
earthquake and vibration hazards through vibration control.
In the first part of the paper one presents two methodologies for analytically
evaluating the dynamic behaviour of liquid tanks by numerical FEM investigation,
under predominantly horizontal seismic actions. Two possible approaches are
followed: i) Ritz method coupled with FEM applied to an analytical solution of the
tank-liquid system; ii) FEM of the full system by modelling the liquid as a
degenerated solid. Both formulations permit to determine seismic response envelopes
[13,14].
One should consider that results from analytical developments on the specific topic
cover a branch of Lifeline Engineering as well, addressing the response, the design
recommendations and the potential upgrading of existing or new bottom supported
storage tanks (for: water, crude oil and energy derivatives, wine, chemicals) and
pipelines, under seismic actions (predominantly horizontal) that can cause their total
or partial non-functionality.
Therefore mathematical treatment covers its own significance, independently from
control vibration applications.
In the second part of the paper, one evaluates, from an experimental point of view,
An Overview on Some Ongoing Computational 3

possible benefits deriving from the application of liquid devices for attenuating the
dynamic response of non-linear structural models with unilateral constraints [7-9].
To this regard, one should notice that the need of predicting and preventing
failures associated to rocking and overturning of rigid structures undergoing strong
ground shaking have motivated a consistent number of studies on rocking response of
rigid blocks [19]-[21]; this is basically due to two main reasons, e.g., on one side, a
wide variety of structures can be collected in this model class, and, on the other side,
dynamics of rigid blocks are pretty complex due to their intrinsic non-linearity, and
can be considered a still open research topic.
One should also consider that very few studies have been developed, to date,
addressing the problem of coupling of TLDs to rigid structures, and the evaluation of
their potential effectiveness.

Seismic Response of Anchored Tanks by the F.E.M.

On the basis of some previous experience in the analysis of wine storage tanks
damaged by the San Juan (Caucete - Argentina) 1977 earthquake, two Finite Element
Method (FEM) approaches for the analysis of the seismic response of bottom
supported metallic tanks typical of oil refineries have been developed and applied
[13]. Both methodologies can be used for the assessment of the seismic response
behaviour of existing and newly designed tanks, since they permit to calculate
technical parameters associated with the strength, stiffness and stability characteristics
of such structures.
The observed damage, due to liquid sloshing or to deformation of the tanks and/or
their foundations, is mainly: buckling of tank wall above base (elephant foot bulge),
roof buckling due to failure of inner supporting columns, roof damage by liquid
sloshing (overpressure or suction), failure of welding connection between shell and
bottom plate, sliding/rocking of tank, foundation failure by differential settlements
associated with liquefaction of soils, torsion buckling of tank wall, and failure of
connections between piping and tank wall.
During an earthquake, the dynamic fluid pressures developed on the liquid storage
tank thin-walls and foundations are of great importance in the tank response, and in
their seismic resistant design.
They may cause two major tank shell structural instabilities: elephant-foot bulge
type of buckling (Fig.1.a) and diamond buckling by shell-crippling (Fig.1.b).
The elephant-foot bulge buckling is an elasto-plastic instability due to
plasticization of tank shell by the compressive stresses associated with overturning
and by the membrane stresses associated with hydrostatic and hydrodynamic
pressures. The diamond buckling is an elastic instability due mainly to axial
compressive stresses of the walls by internal pressures, but without yielding of the
shell wall (membrane stresses smaller than yielding stresses) [16].
4 Rui Carneiro de Barros and Ottavia Corbi

(a) (b)

Figure 1 : (a) Elephant-foot bulge; (b) Diamond buckling.

Solution of the BVP of the Liquid and FEM Modeling of Tank Shell
The first developed FEM approach for predicting the seismic response of storage
tanks is based on assuming small liquid displacements. A rigorous mathematical
treatment involves deriving an expression for the harmonic fluid velocity potential
function satisfying Laplaces equation of the Boundary Value Problem (BVP)
expressed in cylindrical coordinates, and also satisfying appropriate boundary
conditions at the rigid tank bottom, at the liquid interface with the elastic thin shell,
and at the free surface.
The forced vibration of the tank-fluid model is governed by the following
variational formulation of Hamiltons principle

t2
I = (Tt + Tf U t + W ) dt = 0
t1
(1)

where Tt is the kinetic energy of the tank wall, Tf is the kinetic energy of the
contained liquid, Ut is the potential strain energy stored in the tank wall, and W is the
work done by external loads. (When W=0, the variational principle governs free
vibration). The velocity potential function is used to obtain the kinetic energy function
Tf of the liquid.
Due to the axial-symmetry of the tank fluid-system, once the surface loadings (qz,
q, qr) are represented in series of harmonic components
An Overview on Some Ongoing Computational 5

(m)
qz = qz (z, t ) cos m
m =0
(m)
q = q (z, t ) sin m
m =0
(m)
q r = q r (z, t ) cos m
m =0 (2)

then the shell displacements (u,v,w) would be harmonic of similar forms, in such a
way that the mth harmonic component of the displacements is coupled only to the mth
harmonic of the loading functions.
But because fluid is assumed inviscid, for all the harmonics it is found that
(m) (m)
q z ( z, t ) = q ( z, t ) = 0
. The fluid velocity potential satisfying Laplaces equation
and boundary conditions is also harmonic, and the mth harmonic of radial loading is
(m)
qr (z, t ) = f  m (R , z, t )
expressed in terms of fluid mass density by .
a (t )
For the tank subjected to any horizontal earthquake of ground acceleration g
through the rigid bottom plate, Fig.2 justifies trigonometrically the existence of the
indicated components in the radial and circumferential directions.

Figure 2 : Horizontal harmonic seismic components.

Then, only the first (m=1) harmonic of tank is excited, because the component
cos is already the trigonometric expansion of itself. Also only the first harmonic
term of the hydrodynamic velocity potential will be different from zero. The acting
hydrodynamic pressures on the tank walls are then p = f  (r = R , t ) cos .
Uncoupling the BVP by separation of variables permits to express the potential in
a series of contributions or terms of Bessel function J1, as
6 Rui Carneiro de Barros and Ottavia Corbi

r 2R
= J 1 ( n )[ 2  + A n (z, t )]
w
n R ( n 1) J1 ( n )
(3)

where the n are the roots of the Bessel function J1 of first type and first order, and
A n (z, t ) are the contributions of the interaction between the fluid and the flexible tank
wall.
This velocity potential function may be decomposed into two parts (impulsive
and convective) that permit to describe the corresponding effects on the tanks and
their performances [14].
The impulsive response is due to the impulsive pressures associated with inertia
forces produced by impulsive accelerations of tank wall; while the convective
response is due to convective pressures produced by oscillation (sloshing) of the
liquid. Fig.3 visualizes these two types of tank responses, induced by earthquake
horizontal ground motions.

Figure 3 : Impulsive and convective tank responses.

The tank wall is considered as a linear, elastic thin shell, in which the three-
dimensional generalized displacement components (u,v,w) are related to the radial,
circumferential and axial coordinates (r, ,z) of a point on the shell middle surface.
Neglecting rotational inertia, the equilibrium equations of Sanders shell theory have
already been applied [13,14], such that standard kinematics relations for membrane
strains and curvatures in flexure and torsion, expressed in terms of generalized
N , N , N z
displacement components (u,v,w), are related to the membrane actions z
M z , M , M z
and moments , as represented in Fig.4. The finite element model is
obtained by assuming for the tank wall and the contained liquid a mesh of ring-shaped
finite elements.
An Overview on Some Ongoing Computational 7

N z , N , N z M z , M , M z
Figure 4 : Membrane actions and moments in Sanders
theory.

The hydrodynamic actions on the shell tank wall depend on the response of the
shell and liquid contents to the seismic motions of the foundation soil. By formulating
the fluid velocity potential in terms of nodal displacements, the hydrodynamic
pressures, effective generalized forces, consistent mass and stiffness matrices will also
be expressed in terms of the full set of nodal displacements.
The finite element model is obtained dividing the tank wall and the contained
liquid into ring-shaped finite elements of high b, represented in Fig.5.

Figure 5 : Finite element numbering and local coordinates for individual element.

The shell displacements for the ring finite element i, are:

(i ) (i )
u cos m 0 0 U m (s, t )
{d}(i) = v = 0 sin m

0 Vm (s, t ) = R m {A}(mi )
w m
0 0 cos m Wm (s, t )
m
(4)
[]

Also, the vector of amplitudes of mth displacement harmonic for finite element i is
expressed in terms of the generalized coordinates
{}(mi) by
8 Rui Carneiro de Barros and Ottavia Corbi

1 s 0 0 0 0 0 0
{A} (i )
m = D {} (i )
m = 0 0 1 s 0 0 0 0 {}(mi )
0 0 0 0 1 s s 2 s3
(5)
based on assuming that the displacements u and v are linear (in s) while the radial
displacements w(s) are a polynomial of the 3rd degree [17].
The vector of generalized nodal displacements, at bottom (s=0) and top (s=b)
element ends, is expressed in terms of the generalized coordinates by the following
expression in FEM notation for geometric matrix B, detailed in [13]:

U m (s = 0)
V (s = 0)
m
Wm (s = 0)

Wm , s (s = 0)
{X}(mi) = = B {}m
(i )
U
m (s = b )
Vm (s = b)

Wm (s = b)
W (s = b)
m,s (6)

The generalized coordinates are

{}(mi) = B1 {X}(mi) (7)

with which the generalized strains and stresses can be determined by standard
FEM notation.
In terms of the strains-displacements matrix C and material matrix E, the (8x8)
stiffness matrix of the mth harmonic of generalized displacements of ith element is
expressed by:

[ ] [ ]
2 b
T
[K ](mi) = 1 B 1 [C m ]T [E ] [C]m ds d B 1
0 0 (8)

The equivalent nodal forces are also expressed by

0
0

0

[ ]
b 0
{F} = {F}1 = B ( f  ) 1 ds
(i ) (i ) 1 T

0
s
2
s
3
s (9)
An Overview on Some Ongoing Computational 9

since only the first harmonic of the hydrodynamic solution of the velocity potential
is non-null. In Eq.(9) the time derivative of the velocity potential is expressed by a
laborious series development in terms of the Bessel function of the first kind and first
order and other terms, in accordance with the already mentioned Eq.(3). However this
series development is conveniently truncated after the N most significant terms
(usually 5-8 terms suffices, with a truncation relative error less than 0.1%).
Also the consistent mass matrix of the tank ith element is

[ ] T
[ ]

b
[M ](i) = s B1 [D]T [D] ds B1
0 (10)
and the hydrodynamic load vector on the tank shell is expressed by the first N
terms truncated from the complete series of Bessel functions by
{Ff } = f [B 1 ] T J 1 ( n ) K 1( n ) {1 }( n )
n (11)
 ( n ) { }
where the hydrodynamic quantities K 1 and the vector 1 (n ) assume quite
cumbersome analytical expressions.
Assembling the finite elements contributions into the global system of equations
modeling the coupled fluid-tank shell behavior (neglecting damping), one gets
{
[K ]{V} = [M ]{V } [M f ]{V }+ {Ff } + Fs , ext } (12)
where K and M are respectively the global stiffness and consistent mass matrices
of the (metallic) tank shell wall. Mf is an effective (or virtual) mass matrix
corresponding to the added mass contributions of the tank-contained liquid due to the
presence of the fluid near the tank walls (with non-null terms associated with the
radial displacements of the generalized relative displacements vector V), and Fs , ext is
the vector of external applied loads on the tank walls.
The differential matrix equation of motion Eq.(12) is conveniently solved applying
the Runge-Kutta numerical integration method of 4th order. A computer program
(STTKEQ2D.for) developed in [13] models the above-mentioned formulation; the
application of such software is successfull for the steel tank represented in Fig.6 filled
with water and subjected to the so-called Veletsoss pulse, and also for the model
subjected to artificial synthetic earthquakes, generated under specific spectrum for the
space and temporal evolution of the instantaneous spectral density Sp(f).
0 .0 0 1 2

0 .0 0 0 8

0 .0 0 0 4

u [m ]
0 .0 0 0 0 v [m ]
-1 .4 0 0 .6 0 2 .6 0 4 .6 0 6 .6 0 8 .6 0 1 0 .6 0 1 2 .6 0 w [m ]

-0 .0 0 0 4 Delta t -

Delt a t +

-0 .0 0 0 8 Filme

-0 .0 0 1 2
z [m ]

(a) (b)

Figure 6 : Tank displacements response to Veletsoss pulse. (a) validating model and
(b) software.
10 Rui Carneiro de Barros and Ottavia Corbi

The expressions for the velocity potential and hydrodynamic pressures induced by
horizontal earthquakes, allows to evaluate the total pressures, stresses and
displacements and even free surface elevation throughout the tank.
As mentioned in the above the tank in Fig.6 was subjected to artificial synthetic
earthquakes, generated under specific spectrum for the space and temporal evolution
of the instantaneous spectral density Sp(f). The strong motion software SIMQKE-II
was used herein [18] to produce conditioned or unconditioned earthquake ground
motions, matching the target spectrum on average. Some tank responses to a generic
earthquake acceleration time-history calculated with the developed software
STTKEQ2D are represented in Figs 7,8 for certain time-steps of the response history.
The quantities represented are respectively: the instantaneous axial-shear-
membrane stresses, the instantaneous slope of the shell wall, the instantaneous surface
elevation, and the time-history of radial displacement at the level of the 4th ring finite
element.
2500
Inclinaes da Geratriz
2000 9.0E-03

1500
6.0E-03
1000

500 3.0E-03
Nz [kN/m]
0 Nq 0 [kN/m]
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Nzq90[kN/m] 0.0E+00 dw/dz
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
-500

-1000 Delta t - -3.0E-03 Delta t +

Delta t -
Delta t +
-1500
Filme
-6.0E-03
Filme
-2000

-9.0E-03
-2500
z [m]
z [m]

(a) (b)

Figure 7 : (a) Axial-shear-membrane stresses; (b) Slope of shell wall.

0. 016
0.100

0.080 0. 012

0.060
0. 008

0.040

0. 004
0.020

Sobreel ev [ m ] 0 w [ m]
0.000
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 25. 5 26 26. 5 27 27. 5 28 28. 5 29 29.5 30

-0.020
Delta t + -0. 004

-0.040 D elt a t -
-0. 008
F ilm e
-0.060

-0. 012
-0.080

-0.100 -0. 016

[ m] t [s]

(a) (b)

Figure 8 : (a) Surface elevation; (b) Radial displacement.

Thereafter the number of earthquakes to be generated for determining response

envelopes was evaluated, performing a numerical study [13,16] for a series of critical
values of tank responses.
Convergence is achieved on both average and standard deviation results of
basal moment, basal shear, and slope of the shell wall at the level of the first ring
finite element with a small relative error bound mostly below 3% when the number
of earthquakes approaches 14. Convergence is achieved for the amplitude of surface
elevation with relative errors below 2%, when the number of earthquakes has already
reached 10.
An Overview on Some Ongoing Computational 11

With this essential information and with the expression for hydrodynamic
pressures, the envelopes of hydrodynamic pressure in the given reference tank are
obtained for seismic actions according to Portuguese seismic standards for soil type I
and zone A with higher seismic risk (A.S. 1-I ; A.S. 2-I), as represented in Fig.9.
Several other envelopes can be determined for different tank design variables through
the developed versatile software, very useful in ascertaining tank design under the
strength stiffness and stability viewpoints.
The significant envelope of axial stresses Nz is crucial in evaluating potential
onset of elephant-foot bulge buckling.

Figure 9 : Envelope of hydrodynamic pressures in the reference tank (kPa).

FEM Solution of the Flexible Tank Coupled with Contained Liquid, by

Degenerated Solid Modeling of the Liquid Contents
A second finite element formulation was also developed, for the numerical and
computational modeling of tanks with and without sloshing of contained liquid. The
tank wall and roof are modeled with 8-noded isoparametric elements derived from the
classical formulation of Ahmad. The Reissner-Mindlin hypothesis of thick shell
theory is considered in a Greens deformation field, with shear-locking effects
eliminated as explained earlier [15]. Ring stiffeners are modeled with 3-noded
Timoshenko beam elements, with reduced integration. The stiffening rings are rigidly
welded in the tanks exterior eccentrically placed relative to the thin shell middle
surface. To evaluate their effect in the tank seismic analysis, the beam element nodes
are considered to be slave (or dependent) nodes in relation to the shell nodes, by
means of appropriate geometric transformation matrices.
The contained liquid is represented by degenerated elastic solid elements
constituting a practical means of addressing fluid-structure interaction. In this manner,
a finite element mesh with hexahedral elements of 20-nodes discretizes the liquid. To
avoid the occurrence of singular matrices it is considered that the shear modulus
G0, but not null, related with the elastic modulus E and Poisson ratio by
G=E/[2(1+)]. Also, contained liquid incompressibility (namely, water) is simulated
with a Poisson ratio close to 0.5 (in practice, 0.5), also linked to the previous
12 Rui Carneiro de Barros and Ottavia Corbi

criteria. As the contained liquid bulk modulus of volumetric elasticity is given by

Kv=E/[3(1-2)], the values of E and to be used in the seismic tank analysis should
be mutually adjusted to obtain for Kv the appropriate bulk modulus of the contained
liquid. To obtain simultaneously the conditions G = 0 MPa and Kv = 2.11 GPa it is
possible to consider a multiplicity of pairs (E, ) that would numerically satisfy these
conditions. The properties E = 0.0633 MPa and = 0.499995 ( 0.5, as required)
were adopted herein, leading to Kv = 2.11GPa and G = 0.0211 MPa ( 0, as
required). To exemplify its applicability the seismic response of a tank is briefly
presented, for a given time-record of a synthetic earthquake.
The steel tank studied has an outside diameter of 36 m and a height of 12 m, is
filled with water up to a height of 10 m as represented in Fig.10, and subjected to a
set of artificial earthquakes characteristics of Zone A, soil-type I and seismic actions
of types 1 and 2 (AS-1; AS-2). It is rigidly connected to the ground and designed
according to the Japanese standard JIS B-8501 with a thickness of 8 mm throughout.
The stiffening ring, strengthening the roof support on the shell wall at the top, is an
angle (L 90x90x9) with equal flanges.

Figure 10 : Tank studied for earthquakes (AS-1; AS-2) and its finite element mesh

Some natural frequencies and mode shapes of the complete structure are presented
(Fig.11), as well as instantaneous deformed shapes (Fig.12.a) and envelopes of shell
stress resultants (Fig.12.b). The stress envelope can be used in conjunction with
critical buckling stress of symmetric instability of cylindrical shells in function of the
order of the harmonic, to ascertain the minimum design thickness requirements used
[15], by assessing the ultimate capacity by instability of the laminar structure of the
tank walls near the base.

(a) (b)

Figure 11 : Natural frequencies (a) 12=27.07 rad /s (b) 32=35.22 rad /s and mode
shapes of the complete tank.
An Overview on Some Ongoing Computational 13

(a) (b)

Figure 12 : (a) Deformed shape and sloshing at t=9.24s; (b) Envelope of vertical
compression of the shell along tank wall (kN/m)

Stabilization of Dynamic Rocking of Rigid Blocks by Liquid

Shoshing: Results from an Experimental Campaign
Discussion on the Research Topic
The rocking response of rigid bodies has attracted the interest of many researchers all
over the world [19]-[21], since it is related to the possibility of predicting failures of a
wide variety of structures, due to rocking and overturning.
Therefore, even in its apparent simplicity, this may be considered a still open
problem, to be carefully deepened both under the experimental and numerical points
of view.
On the other side, the possibility of preventing collapses of structures by means of
additional masses suitably tuned to the basic characters of the structure itself is a
widely studied problem, and devices based on sloshing liquids have now been
recognized desirable damping properties [1]-[12].
In the paper the two features are coupled and the possibility of mitigating the
dynamic rocking response of standard models of rigid blocks by simple liquid
dampers devices is investigated from an experimental point of view.

Experiments on rigid blocks equipped with water tanks

In this section one summarizes some of the results of experimental investigations on
TLDs coupled to various structural models, already executed or in course of
development at the Laboratory of Materials and Structural Testing of the University
of Naples Federico II.
First of all one investigates the possibility of mitigating the dynamic rocking
response of standard models of rigid blocks by means of liquid dampers [7-9].
The experimental investigation is finalized to evaluate the possible effectiveness of
such devices for the considered application, which concerns structural models
exhibiting a non-linear response under dynamic excitation due to the change in sign of
dynamic equations during the motion and the impacts of the blocks with the table; for
deducting general features of the behaviour of the coupled system with comparison to
the simple structural model and evaluating possible benefits and limits of TLDs
adoption for the specific application, the design of liquid devices is not required and a
parametric experimental campaign is executed by varying the dimensions of the rigid
blocks and the dimensions, shape and liquid level of the liquid containers.
14 Rui Carneiro de Barros and Ottavia Corbi

Experiments are developed on a unidirectional shaking table moving in the

horizontal direction (Fig.13)

(a) (b)

Figure 13 : a) Shaking table at the Laboratory of the University of Naples Federico

II; b) Block equipped with prismatic (0) and trapezoidal (45) TLDs with marks at
two liquid levels (4cm and 8cm).

In order to obtain experimental data on blocks motion due to pure rocking, the
blocks are suitably fixed on the moving table and an accelerometer is placed on the
top of each block, measuring its accelerations. A special device is adopted for fixing
the blocks in such a way to avoid any rotation around zaxis and sliding along the
shaking table surface (Fig. 14.a,b).
Some prismatic aluminium blocks are suitably fixed on the moving table in such a
way to develop pure rocking (Fig. 14.c) in the direction of the table motion (no
allowed translation or torsion rotation on the table) and an is accelerometer placed on
the top of each block, for measuring blocks accelerations.

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 14 : Device for fixing the blocks on the shaking table: (a) plant and section,
(b) three-dimensional view. (c) Allowed motion of the blocks during experiments.
One basically refers to three prismatic blocks in aluminium with dimensions (cm):
i) 303040 cm, ii) 302040 cm, iii) 301040 cm, respectively (Fig.15).
An Overview on Some Ongoing Computational 15

Figure 15 : Three aluminum parallelepipeds of various sizes and aspect ratios

(width/height) were used in the tests.

For evaluating the energy dissipation due to the sloshing action of liquid in
containers, some liquid dampers (LDs) are mounted on the upper surface of the rigid
blocks.
The adopted LDs simply consist of some tanks with different shapes to be filled
with a liquid (in the specific case, water) at various levels.
In details one considers three tanks, one of which has a simply parallelepiped
shape (vertical lateral sides), as shown in Fig.16, and will be referred to as 0 tank.
The remaining two tanks have a trapezoidal shape with 30- or 45-inclined lateral
sides as shown in Fig.17; these will be referred to in the following as 30 and 45
tanks.

8cm
4cm

Figure 16 : Parallelepiped-shaped TLD with marks at two liquid levels (4cm and
8cm).
16 Rui Carneiro de Barros and Ottavia Corbi

8cm
4cm

8cm
4cm

(a) (b)

Figure 17 : Trapezoid-shaped TLDs with marks at two liquid levels (4cm and 8cm).
Inclination of the lateral sides of: (a) 30 , (b) 45.

Fig. 18 shows the resuming scheme of adopted tanks for LDs whilst Fig.19 reports
the considered water levels.
As mentioned in the above, the experiments are executed filling tanks with water
up to 4 and 8 cm of depth and comparing the results with the ones of the block with
empty tanks, which is referred to by the 0 cm notation (Fig.19).

Figure 18 : Resuming scheme of adopted tanks for LDs.

During dynamic tests, the input signal driven by the shaking table consists of a
An Overview on Some Ongoing Computational 17

horizontal sine acceleration with fixed amplitude and frequency.

Actually one fixes the span of the table at 0.5 cm and executes a number of tests by
varying the excitation frequency between 1 Hz and 10 Hz, which can be considered
the most significant frequency range if one refers to the maximum power
concentration of a seismic motion.
In the following one just reports results concerning two dimensions of prismatic
blocks, i.e. 303040 cm, and 302040 cm, and two shapes of liquid containers, i.e.
prismatic (0) tank and (45) trapezoidal tank. Results of experiments are reported in
Figs 20-23. One refers to Figs 20 and 21 for the 303040 cm block, to Figs 22 and
23 for the 302040 cm block.

Figure 19 : Resuming scheme of adopted water levels for LDs.

In details the set of Figs 20 and 22 represents peak accelerations (m/s2) of the
blocks versus frequencies (of the unidirectional base acceleration) (Hz) for a span
level o 0.5 cm and for the mentioned (8cm, 4cm and 0 cm) liquid levels in the tanks:
in every graphic one has three curves relevant to the depth of the water (0, 4, 8 cm).
Figs 21 and 23 represents time histories at 5 Hz showing response attenuation when
increasing the liquid level. Comparison between the three liquid depth levels (Figs 20
and 22) reveal the potential efficiency of the liquid damper system in damping the
vibrations of the structural model. Looking at the results of the experimentation, some
basic features can be outlined.
First of all, the benefit by the liquid damper is not homogeneous on the frequency
range, but it is dependent on the frequencies at which the power of the excitation is
lumped. This is clear observing Fig.20 as well as other plots, where the benefit is
much higher in some frequency range.
18 Rui Carneiro de Barros and Ottavia Corbi

30x30 - span 5 - 0 tank 30x30 - span 5 - 45 tank

120 120

100 100
acceleration - m/s2

acceleration - m/s2
80 80
0 cm 0 cm
60 4 cm 60 4 cm
8 cm 8 cm
40 40

20 20

0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10
frequency - Hz frequency - Hz

(a) (b)

Figure 20 : Block 303040 cm with: a) 0 tank and b) 45 tanks for different water
levels.

Aluminium 30x30 - 0 tank - water 0 cm - span 5mm - 5Hz Aluminium 30x30 - 45 tank - water 0 cm - span 5mm - 5Hz

80 80

60 60

40 40
2

acceleration - m/sec 2
acceleration - m/sec

20 20

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
-20 -20

-40 -40

-60 -60

-80 -80
time sec time sec

Aluminium 30x30 - 0 tank - water 4 cm - span 5mm - 5Hz A luminium 3 0 x3 0 - 4 5 t ank - wat er 4 cm - sp an 5mm
- 5Hz
80

60
80

40 60
2
acceleration - m/sec

40
20
20
0
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
-20 -20 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

-40
-40
-60
-60
-80
-80 t i m e se c
time sec

Aluminium 30x30 - 0 tank - water 8 cm - span 5mm - 5Hz Aluminium 30x30 - 45 tank - water 8 cm - span 5mm - 5Hz

80 80

60 60

40 40
2

2
acceleration - m/sec

acceleration - m/sec

20 20

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
-20 -20

-40 -40

-60 -60

-80 -80
time sec time sec

(a) (b)

Figure 21 : Block 303040 cm with: a) 0 tank, b) 45 tank for different water

levels.
An Overview on Some Ongoing Computational 19

30x20 - span 5 - 0 tank 30x20 - span 5 - 45 tank

90 90
80 80

acceleration - m/s2
70
acceleration - m/s2

70
60 60
0 cm 0 cm
50 50
4 cm 4 cm
40 40
8 cm 8 cm
30 30
20 20
10 10
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10
frequency - Hz frequency - Hz

(a) (b)

Figure 22 : Block 302040 cm equipped with: a) 0 tank, b) 45 tank for different

water levels.

Alum inium 30x20 - 0 tank - w ater 0 cm - Alum inium 30x20 - 45 tank - w ater 0 cm -
span 5m m - 5Hz span 5m m - 5Hz

60 80
60
40
40
20
20
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 -20 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
-20
-40
-40
-60
-60 -80

t i m e se c t i m e se c

Alum inium 30x20 - 0 tank - w ater 4 cm - Alum inium 30x20 - 45 tank - w ater 4 cm -
span 5m m - 5Hz span 5m m - 5Hz

80 80
60 60
40 40
20 20
0 0
-20 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 -20 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

-40 -40
-60 -60
-80 -80

t i m e se c t i m e se c

Alum inium 30x20 - 0 tank - w ater 8 cm - Alum inium 30x20 - 45 tank - w ater 8 cm -
span 5m m - 5Hz span 5m m - 5Hz

80 80
60 60
40 40
20 20
0 0
-20 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 -20 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

-40 -40
-60 -60
-80 -80

t i m e se c t i m e se c

(a) (b)

Figure 23 : Block 302040 cm with: a) 0 tank, b) 45 tank for different water

levels. Secondly, the effect is dependent of the geometrical/inertial properties of the
object under observation. Thirdly, the design of the liquid damper (the liquid mass
20 Rui Carneiro de Barros and Ottavia Corbi

and the shape of the tank) is determinant for the performance of the device. In all the
tests the benefit potentially appears very significant but some cases have been
encountered where the device increases the risk. The conclusion is that a theoretical
settlement cannot be ignored and the device has to be carefully designed with regard
to shape and entity of the sloshing liquid mass, keeping into account both the
excitation's character and the object's inertial properties.

Acknowledgment
This work, as part of the European Science Foundation EUROCORES Program
COVICOCEPAD, was supported by funds from the FEUP, the Italian CNR and the
EC Sixth Framework Program.

Conclusions
The paper focuses on the possibility of exploiting liquid sloshing motion for vibration
control purposes of civil structures. Both analytical, numerical and experimental
issues are introduced, giving a general overview of some in progress studies
developed by the authors on the specific topic.
As regards to liquid motion modeling at the inner of the tanks, two FEM approaches
are introduced for the numerical analysis of seismic response of liquid-filled tanks and
to determine design envelopes, through successfully validated software. The
investigation allows to find out the responses of 10-14 artificial earthquakes,
satisfying frequency requirements of the spectral density at the site, are required in
order to determine accurate design envelopes of bottom supported tanks. Moreover,
from an experimental point of view, coupling of liquid devices prototypes with rigid
structural models exhibiting non-linear behavior under dynamic motion is
investigated; although an high number of studies have been produced in the research
area, this special application has been rarely treated in literature, even if it can be
considered of basic importance because it covers a wide variety of structural
typologies.
Experimental results allow to appreciate potential effectiveness and reliability of
liquid devices also for the specific case.

References
[1] Kosaka H, Noji T, Yoshida H, Tatsumi E, Yamanaka H, Agrawal AK,
Damping Effects of a Vibration Control Damper Using Sloshing of Water,
Proc. Tenth World Conf. on Earthquake Engineering; Madrid; 4: 2435-2440,
1992.
[2] Fujino Y, Tuned Liquid Damper (TLD) for Suppressing Horizontal Motion of
Structures, Journal of Engineering Mechanics; 118, n. 10, 2017-2030, 1992.
[3] Kareem A, Next Generation of Tuned Liquid Dampers, Proc. First World
Conf. on Structural Control: International Association for Structural Control;
An Overview on Some Ongoing Computational 21

Los Angeles; 3, 19-28, 1994.

[4] Sun LM, Fujino Y, Koga K, Model of Tuned Liquid Damper for Suppressing
Pitching Motions of Structures, Earthquake Engineering and Structural
Dynamics; 24(5): 625-636, 1995.
[5] Chaiseri P, Fujino Y, Pacheco BM, Sun LM, Interaction of Tuned Liquid
Damper (TLD) and Structure: Theory, Experimental Verification and
Application, Structural Engineering/Earthquake Engineering; 6(2): 273-282,
1989.
[6] Abramson HN, The Dynamics of Liquids in Moving Containers, Rep. SP 106.
NASA, 1966.
[7] Baratta A, Corbi O, Orefice R, Tuned Liquid Dampers for structural
Applications: Experimental Evidence, Proc. 4th Int. Conf. Engineering
Computational Technology, Lisbon, 2004.
[8] Corbi O, Experimental Investigation on Sloshing Water Dampers Attached to
Rigid Blocks, Proc. 5th Wseas Int. Conf .Applied Comp. Science, Hangzhou,
China, 2006.
[9] Corbi O, Orefice R, Dissipation of Dynamic Vibrations of Rigid Blocks by
Liquid Sloshing Motion. In Structural Safety and Reliability, G. Augusti,
G.I. Schueller, M. Ciampoli Eds, Millpress, Rotterdam, 2005.
[10] Fujino Y, Sun L, Pacheco BM, Chaiseri P, Tuned Liquid Damper (TLD) for
Suppressing Motion of Structures, Journal of Engineering Mechanics; 118:
2017-2030, 1992.
[11] Sato T, Tuned Sloshing Dampers, Japan J. Wind Engineering; 32: 67-68,
1987.
[12] Tamura Y, Kohsaka R, Nakamura O, Miyashita K, Modi V, Wind-Induced
Responses of an Airport Tower- Efficiency of Tuned Liquid Damper, Journal
of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics; 65: 121-131, 1996.
[13] Barros RC, Resposta Ssmica de Tanques de Armazenamento de Lquidos.
Contents of the Synthesis Lecture of the Aggregation Evaluation in Civil
Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, FEUP, Porto, 5th July, (in
Portuguese), 2000.
[14] Barros RC, Some Developments on Vibration Control for Tank Shells and
Pipelines. Proc. Engineering Meeting on Intelligent Structures, Ischia, Italy,
2001.
[15] Barros RC, Alves RF, Seismic Response of Metallic Storage Tanks by
Degenerated Solid Modeling of the Liquid Contents. Engenharia: Estudo e
Pesquisa, 4, No. 2, 71-77, Brazil, 2001.
[16] Barros RC, Seismic Response Envelopes of a Tank Supported at the Base.
Proc. 6th Int. Conf. on Computational Structures Technology, Civil-Comp
Press, ISBN 0-948749-81-4, Ed: B.H.V. Topping and Z. Bittnar, Prague,
September, 2002.
[17] Ugural AC, Stresses in Plates and Shells. Ch. 11: Bending Stresses in Shells,
McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 231-253,1981.
[18] Vanmarcke EH, Fenton GA, Heredia-Zavoni E, SIMQKE-II: Conditioned
Earthquake Ground Motion Simulator. Users Manual, Version 2.1, Princeton
22 Rui Carneiro de Barros and Ottavia Corbi

University, Princeton, New Jersey,1999.

[19] Aslam M, Godden WG, Scalise DT, Earthquake Rocking Response of Rigid
Bodies, J. Engrg. Mech. Div. ASCE 106(2), 377-392, 1980.
[20] Corbi I, Orefice R, Study of Rocking Rigid Blocks Using Shaking Table
Experiments, Proc. 4th Int. Conf. Engineering Computational Technology,
Portugal, 2004.
[21] Hogan SJ, The Many Steady State Responses of a Rigid Block Under
Harmonic Forcing, Int. J. Earthquake Eng. & Struct. Dyn. 19, 1057-1071,
1990.