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Engineering Department Design Guide Subject

Design Guide Number

App

Date

Sheet of

DSG-SE-02

SAL

Jan 2000

TANK FOUNDATION (CONCRETE RING WALL)

1.0

SCOPE

This design guide provides a method for designing a ring foundation for a cylindrical steel, liquid storage tank. 2.0 GUIDE

Tank foundation consists of a reinforced concrete ring wall designed for static, hydrodynamic, wind, and seismic loads. Listed below are "general guidelines" for design. Engineers should consult their project-specific criteria, as well as API-650. 1) 2) The depth of the ring wall should be determined based on the soils reports and bolt embedment length requirements. However, the bottom of the ring wall must be below the frost line. For shallow walls, the hoop tension is assumed uniform from the top to the bottom of the wall. Because lateral pressure increases with the depth, high walls will require closer steel spacing at the bottom than at the top. Minimum width of ring wall shall be 12 inches. To maintain continuity of the hoop tension, reinforcing must be continued around wall openings. Top of wall should be smooth and level within plus-or-minus 1/8-inch in any 30-foot circumferential length. No point in the circumference should vary more than 1/4 inch from the established elevation. The ring wall should be sufficiently reinforced to take into account the forces produced by the applied loads. Check the foundation for overturning stability, sliding, and settlement. For small tasks, octagonal, rigid concrete mats are often more economical than ring wall foundations. The geometrical characteristics of the ring wall and anchorage of tank should determine whether the foundation should be analyzed as flexible or rigid. For most instances, rigid foundation design methodology will be adequate, and is discussed in the following paragraph. However, if flexible foundation analysis is envisaged, a finite element model (using plate elements) needs to be prepared using programs like GTSTRUDL, SAFE, etc. Effect of soil volume underneath the foundation should be modeled using stiffness derived from the modules of subgrade reaction.

3) 4) 5)

6) 7) 8) 9)

A typical sketch showing tank foundation is shown in Figure 3 at the end of this document. 3.0 RIGID FOUNDATION ANALYSIS

Static analysis should be performed to ensure that the ring wall foundation meets the strength and stability requirements for the following load conditions: 1) 2) 3) Operating Operating plus seismic Operating plus wind

It is preferred that the ring wall thickness be such that the average unit soil bearing under the wall is approximately the same as under the tank at the same depth. Occasionally, it is not practical to meet this requirement. Also, the tank shell should be centered with the ring wall. Therefore, the thickness of the ring wall is based on: qH + s h = [w + 1/2 tqH + ht c ] / t

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Engineering Department Design Guide therefore:

Design Guide Number

Date

Sheet of

DSG-SE-02

Jan 2000

t = 2w / [qH - 2h ( c - s )] > 1 ft min

where: t q H s c h w = = = = = = = Thickness of ring wall, ft Unit weight of tank liquid, pcf Height of tank liquid, ft Unit weight of soil, pcf Unit weight of concrete, pcf Height of ring wall, ft Weight of tank shell including the tributary weight of a cone roof per foot of circumference, plf. A floating roof weight does not add to the shell weight.

Figure 1

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Engineering Department Design Guide 3.1 Operating Condition

Design Guide Number

Date

Sheet of

DSG-SE-02

Jan 2000

Under operating condition, the applied loads to the ring wall are as shown in Figure 1. Passive pressure is usually neglected for the design of the ring wall. Fr = 1/2 ( k o s h 2 ) + k o qHh) Active where: Fr = ko = = = Radial force on the ring wall, plf At rest earth pressure coefficient (1 - Sin ) Angle of internal friction of soil, degrees
Pressure

Surcharge

Pressure

The radial force thus produced will cause hoop tension in the ring wall. T where: T D = = Axial tension in ring wall, kips Tank shell diameter, ft Area of hoop steel (in2) = T/fs allowable stress in reinforcing steel, (ksi) = FrD/2000

As = where: fs 3.2 =

Operating Plus Seismic Condition

The hydrodynamic loads at the base of the tank should be provided by the tank manufacturer because a detailed dynamic analysis is performed for the tank shell design. This will maintain a design consistency for the tank shell and foundation. As an alternative, the hydrodynamic loads for the preliminary design loads can be determined using Reference 1 or 3 (see Paragraph 4.0). The following method should be used to determine the soil pressure due to the overturning moment. O.T.M. = Pt where: Pftg = = Pshell = = Pliquid = = Eccentricity, e = weight of ring wall footing D (0.15 ht) kips weight of tank shell Dw/1000 kips weight of liquid in tank (D-t/2) (t/2)qH/1000 kips O.T.M. / Pt = = Overturning moment caused by the seismic loads. Total vertical load Pftg + Pshell + Pliquid

Obtain soil pressure using 'Concrete Design Handbook' by M. Lintel (page 118), see Paragraph 4.0. Factor of safety against overturning and sliding shall be calculated and checked against allowable limits, usually 1.5.

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Engineering Department Design Guide

Design Guide Number

Date

Sheet of

DSG-SE-02

Jan 2000

Figure 2

3.3

Operating Plus Wind Condition

Tank operating load and wind load shall be used to obtain overturning moment and sliding force. Soil pressure and factor of safety against overturning and sliding shall be calculated. 4.0 REFERENCES 1) 2) 3) API - Standard 650, Welded Steel Tanks for Oil Storage Appendix - B Concrete Design Handbook by Mark Fintel. Seismic Design for Buildings, Technical Manual, TM-5-809-10, NAVFAC P-355, AFM 88-3.

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Engineering Department Design Guide

Design Guide Number

Date

Sheet of

DSG-SE-02

Jan 2000

R = Radius of tank or C L of ring wall H = Height of shell, ft h = Height of ring wall t = Thickness of wall

Figure 3 - Concrete Ring Foundation for Vertical Storage Tanks