{"id":9534,"date":"2017-07-31T08:12:38","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T08:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.simscale.com\/?p=9534"},"modified":"2023-06-01T11:25:13","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T11:25:13","slug":"wind-load-tank-farm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.simscale.com\/blog\/wind-load-tank-farm\/","title":{"rendered":"Tank Farm Wind Load Analysis using Computational Fluid Dynamics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wind load is one of the main concerns in construction codes. In addition to gravitational loads, earthquakes, and other factors, wind gusts-induced loads can be key factors that cause failure in structures. These failures are mostly due to lateral forces, induced turning moments, and pressure\/suction on roof and walls, all of which deviate from the regular gravitational loads’ effects on buildings and other load-carrying structures.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What is Wind Load?<\/h2>\n

The wind is more or less influential in a given structural design case, depending on the geographical location; for example, coastal areas and plains are more affected by wind storms and fast wind gusts. Also, the structure’s height tallness of the structure, shape, and surrounding elements affect the wind flow and therefore the pressure distribution on the surfaces. Construction codes take into account all of these factors and deliver methods to calculate loads, always in approximate and conservative ways. However, if the engineering department needs to know the details of wind load over a structure with precision, because of unusual conditions or irregular structures, other methods must be used, such as wind tunnel testing or Computational Fluid Dynamics. In this article, I will make use of the latter to predict the pressure distribution over a set of oil storage tanks and make comparisons with the pressure distribution over a single one.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wind Load Analysis<\/span> Case Study: Wind Load Analysis of an Oil Storage Tank Farm<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We have a 2600-square-meter tank farm located in an oil terminal at a bayside, with ten 15-meter tall tanks together in a space confined by a dam. This is a typical configuration for these facilities. The farm’s proximity to the sea and related lack of obstacles to gusts make wind loads a special concern. Also, care must be taken, since a failure in any of the oil storage tanks could lead to oil spills and contamination, so there is a high risk of negative environmental impact. It is highly desirable to have a maximum amount of knowledge of the real loads and produced stress state of the structural systems, for safety and reliability assessments.<\/span><\/p>\n

We will use the wind gust speed of 36 m\/s from the local construction code and apply it in a CFD wind tunnel model of the tank farm, then analyze the vortex formation, turbulence, and pressures generated on the tanks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tank Farm Simulation<\/span> Modeling and Simulation<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A virtual wind tunnel was modeled using a hexahedral-dominant mesh, with the tank farm in the middle. The mesh was computed in the SimScale platform, resulting in 1.5 million cells:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Figure 1: CFD Mesh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Figure 2: CFD Mesh Close-Up<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The following modeling techniques were used:<\/span><\/p>\n