Shake table investigation of nonlinear soil–structure–fluid interaction of a thin-walled storage tank under earthquake load

Abstract This research experimentally addresses the seismic response of a cylindrical liquid storage tank in terms of six factors, i.e., acceleration, displacement, hoop and axial stresses in the tank wall, sloshing and uplift. Both material and geometrical nonlinear interaction due to sloshing and uplift are considered. The simultaneous effects of the fixity condition, the supporting base flexibility and the aspect ratio on the response are presented in radar plots. The results reveal that, depending on the aspect ratio, the supporting base flexibility governs the overall response by activating uplift. A nonlinear elastic spring–mass model gives a good representation of the results.