Keywords: seismic response of tanks, boundary value problem of liquid sloshing, finite element method, tank shell, liquid as degenerated solid, code provisions for tanks, parametric studies, earthquake design, control of vibrations.

The present work addresses the synthesis of the research on tank lifelines that has been successfully addressed at the FEUP School of Engineering of the University of Porto. In a first part, two finite element formulations are described for the numerical and computational modelling of tanks with sloshing of the contained liquid, both considering fluid-structure interaction: (a) analytical solution of the boundary value problem (BVP) for the liquid coupled with a finite element method (FEM) discretisation of the tank circular shell; (b) FEM discretisation of the complex continua "solid tank" and "contained liquid", in which the liquid is treated as a degenerated solid. Results from the 2 methodologies applied to particular cases are detailed. In a second part, some actual regulatory design provisions for anchored tanks are compared in dimensionless graphs of design quantities (base shear, base moments) evaluated using API 650, Indian Standard and EC8. Some conclusions about the design provisions are outlined.

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