An overview of cylindrical water tank buckling analysis under seismic loading

The cylindrical water tank buckling analysis under seismic loading has been reviewed. The paper focuses on tanks sensitive to bending buckling for which diamond elastic buckling or elephant foot elastic-plastic collapse are 2 possible failures. Simplified methods developed in Japan and Europe to assess the critical axial stresses corresponding to these 2 types of buckling are presented and compared with the results of a finite-element calculation including a geometrical imperfection. For the case considered, the European method gives fairly good results compared to finite-element ones while the Japanese method seems to be a little more optimistic. The post-buckling behavior of the tanks and the effect of a possible bottom uplifting are briefly presented. (author)