STANDARDS FOR UNDERGROUND TANK DESIGN

Team Details:

1) Rathnagiri Sairam Kaushik (2017H1410061G)

2) Kuchipudi Venkata Sai Pavan (2017H1410053G)
3) Manepalli Ravi Teja (2017H1410057G)

1) Introduction to problem:

Underground tanks are specifically designed to store water and potable drinking
water. These tanks are not visible on the surface and preserve the land use and
space. The tank is to be designed in such a way that it sustains the loads during
working condition and gives a long life. There are standards available for
designing underground tanks and they cannot be taken directly and implement in
India. So, there is a need to develop separate standards for designing underground
tanks which is compatible with Indian environmental conditions. Our main aim is
to study the forces acting on the underground tank and develop design criteria for
underground tanks which does not fail in the working conditions. The procedure to
mount the tank is also to be studied and analyzed, which ensures that the tank is
properly deployed in the location.

2) Literature review:

There are many factors to be taken into consideration while designing and
installing an underground tank and these factors vary for different applications.
Loads that are acting on the undergrounds tanks are taken with reference to South
African and Australian standards. These loads on underground tanks are calculated
taking Indian soil conditions into consideration under varying environmental
conditions.
The various loads acting on the underground tanks that need to be taken care while
designing the tanks are given below:

Note: all the pressure units are taken in Pascal’s

1. Vertical soil pressure:
FV   SOIL hsurface

2. Pore water pressure = U =  water * hp

h p =distance from given point on the tank to water table level

3. Vertical soil skeleton pressure

FVsk   soil (hsurface  hp )  ( soil   water )hp

FVsk   soil hsurface   water hp

4. Horizontal soil pressure:

Fh   soil * ka * hsurface
5. Horizontal soil skeleton pressure
Fhsk  ( soil   water )ka hsurface
6. Horizontal pressure due to surcharge loading:
Qh  qs * ka pascals
7. Vertical pressure due to surcharge loading:
Qv  qs pascals
Soil Densities:
For Alluvial, saline, loamy soils, the soil density varies from 2.49 - 2.62 gm/cm3
Water table level from surface:
Lateritic soil: ground water occurs at 9.4 to 26.6 mbgl
If the wells are located near the tank: 1.5-8.4 mbgl
Alluvial soil: ground water occurs at 1.4-7.7 mbgl
If the wells are located near the tank: 1.4-5.85 mbgl

In north goa:
Pre-monsoon level: 1.69-26.09 mbgl
Post-monsoon level: 2.17-19.23 mbgl
South goa:
Pre-monsoon level: 2.39-18.64 mbgl
Post-monsoon level: 1.20-14.52 mbgl
Ka = coefficient of lateral earth pressure
Ka = 0.22-0.9
= horizontal skeleton pressure/vertical skeleton pressure
Fhsk
=
Fvsk
Horizontal soil skeleton pressure = horizontal soil pressure- pore water pressure
P = Horizontal soil skeleton pressure + pore water pressure + horizontal pressure
due to surcharge loading
P = Fhsk + U + ka*qs

=Ka*Fvsk + U + ka*qs
The various load case combinations taken into consideration are given below:

Combination Load case combination Elastic

type modulus
type
1.2G  1.5( Fv  Fh ) Long term

1.2G  1.5( Fv  Fh )  s (Qh  Qv ) Short term

ultimate
1.2G  1.5( Fv  Fh )  l (Qh  Qv ) Long term
 1.2G  1.5( Fv  Fh  Flp ) Short term#

G  Fv  Fh Long term

G  ( Fv  Fh )  s (Qh  Qv ) Long term

serviceability
G  ( Fv  Fh )  s (Qh  Qv ) Short term

1.2(G  Fv  Fh )  1.5(Qh  Qv ) Short term#

1.2(G  Fvsk  Fh )  1.5(Qh  Qv )

ψs = 1.0 for short term effects and ψl = 0.6 for long term effects.

Dry load = 1.2(G  Fv  Fh )  1.5(Qh  Qv )

Wet load = 1.2(G  Fvsk  Fhsk )  1.5Flp
Where,

Flp=Hydrostatic pressure applied normal to the tank surface

In instances where water table levels are permanently above the invert of the tank,
long term moduli shall be adopted.

3) Methodology :

There is need to follow appropriate design principles and criteria to ensure safe
design of underground tanks for sustaining various loads acting on the tank. To
evaluate the stresses due to these loads and give recommendations to manufacturer
for designing underground tanks, material strength is taken as criteria and found
optimal thickness.
 hoop ,induced   yield
Thickness of underground tank:
Pd
t
2 yield
(ka ( soil * hsurface   water * hp )   water * hp  ka qs )d
t
2 yield
(ka ( soil * hsurface  qs )   water * hp (1  ka ))d
t
2 yield
Various load cases mentioned above are calculated in terms of pressure (pascal)
and substitute in the term P to find the optimal thickness in each case.
In our design we have neglected horizontal pressure, selfweight pressure in each
case & found the optimal thickness.
Where d = diameter of the tank
Where as,
 SOIL = specific weight of soil
 water = specific weight of water
hsurface
= distance from a given point on the tank to the finished ground level
hp = distance from a given point on the tank to the water table level

ka =
Coefficient of lateral earth pressure
qs = surcharge loading
Fhsk = Horizontal soil skeleton pressure

Fvsk = Vertical soil skeleton pressure

t = Thickness of underground tank
U = Pore water pressure
According to south african standards:
The calculated thickness for different loading conditions for a tank of 2metre
diameter and material having strength 7.5 Mpa are

Dry load 217787.88 Pa Thickness (Dry load) 0.029038384

Wet load 170870.58 Pa Thickness (Wet load) 0.022782744

G + Fv + Fh 169614.9 Pa Thickness 0.02261532

G + Fv + Fh + ψl(Qh + Qv) 175314.9 Pa Thickness 0.02337532

Serviceability
G + Fv + Fh + ψs(Qh + Qv) 179114.9 Pa Thickness 0.023881987

G + Fvsk + Fhsk + Flp 138713.4 Pa Thickness 0.01849512

1.2G + 1.5(Fv + Fh) 254422.35 Pa Thickness 0.03392298

1.2G + 1.5(Fv + Fh) + ψs(Qh + Qv) 263922.35 Pa Thickness 0.035189647

Ultimate
1.2G + 1.5(Fv + Fh) + ψl(Qh + Qv) 260122.35 Pa Thickness 0.03468298

1.2G + 1.5Fvsk + Fhsk + Flp) 208070.1 Pa Thickness 0.02774268

4)Future work:
 The tank design is prepared in solidworks software.
 Thickness reduction is studied while adding ribs on the tank.
 Analyze the behavior of the tank under different loading conditions in Abaqus.
 Study the mounting procedure of the underground tanks (Balmoral tank).

References:

- South Africa Draft UndergroundTankHandbook Rev01.

- Australia Draft UndergroundTank.
- Surcharge Lateral Earth Pressure.