AN INVESTIGATION ABOUT EFFECTS OF SUPPORTING SYSTEMS ON FLUID-ELEVATED TANKS INTERACTION

As known from very upsetting experiences, elevated tanks were collapsed or heavily damaged during the earthquakes all over the word. These unusual events showed that the supporting system of the elevated tanks has more critical importance than the other structural types of tanks. So most of damages observed during the earthquakes arise from the causes like unsuitable design of supporting system, mistakes on selecting of supporting system and/or underestimated demand or overestimated strength etc. Moreover it can be seen from the literature that fluid-structure interaction can play an important role on seismic behavior of elevated tanks. Consequently in this study the aim is selected as the changing supporting system of elevated tanks to what extent may be effective. As examples two different types of supporting system are selected for this subject. The first is frame and the second is cylindrical shell supporting system. After that seismic analyses were performed considering fluid-structure interaction. Conclusions from the analyses result showed that supporting system may considerably change the seismic behavior of the elevated tanks.