DOI: 10.3390/w18151911 ISSN: 2073-4441

Hydrodynamic Roof-Impact Pressure Induced by Water Sloshing in High-Filling Rectangular Storage Tanks: Shaking-Table Tests and Experimentally Calibrated Prediction

Haoran Qin, Jishuai Wang

Large-amplitude water sloshing in high-filling storage tanks can generate transient roof-impact pressures that threaten structural safety and operational reliability. This study develops a simplified momentum-conservation-based model for estimating the maximum dynamic impact pressure (MDIP) in rectangular tanks. The impact load is represented by the rate of momentum change within the roof-wetted liquid region, and the model parameters are calibrated using shaking-table tests. A total of 130 sinusoidal-excitation cases covering three filling depths and multiple excitation frequencies and amplitudes were conducted. The experimental results indicate that the roof-pressure response is strongly non-sinusoidal, with short-duration impulsive peaks and pronounced cycle-to-cycle variability. In the representative cases, the MDIP occurs after the first roof-contact event and varies non-monotonically with excitation amplitude. After calibration, the model provides reasonable estimates of the measured MDIP for most test conditions. The proposed formulation is physically interpretable and computationally efficient, making it suitable for rapid preliminary estimation of sloshing-induced roof-impact pressure in high-filling rectangular water tanks.

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