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In this page I will talk about the design philosophy of ring beam for storage water tank. The granular fill foundation of
the tank shall be designed per project design criteria / specification. This type of foundation is mostly common to all
project site. However, sometimes we design concrete ring beam around the tank foundation. Following are some
reasons for design of concrete ring beam, though this is more costly and take longer to construct than granular fill ring:
Sometimes clients ask to provide concrete ring beam around tank foundation.
Prevent uplift of the tank due to wind or earthquake
Prevent edge failure of the soil at the tank shell
Prevent local uplift of the tank due to internal pressure.
Now you will follow the following steps to start the foundation load calculation and design:
Step-1 : Review of Tank detail drawing (Vendor Drawing)
You need to review tank drawings from foundation design point of view and check whether you have all the following
information:
Tank Dimension, Diameter and Height
Type of Roof (Floating or fixed roof), weight of roof
Detail of tank shell and weight of tank shell
Detail of tank base plate, location of base sump, annular plate and total weight of base plate
Detail of anchor bolt (BCD, no of bolt and dia of bolt) and anchor bolt fixing detail
Location and detail of man-hole at bottom portion of tank
Product density and and maximum height of product
Maximum height of water inside the tank for the hydrotest* Internal pressure or suction
Live load
Wind Shear and moment on tank shell
Seismic shear and moment on tank shell
Step-2 : Verification of foundation location, elevation and external fittings loads
You need to review Plot plan, Equipment location drawings and 3 -D Models and check whether you have all the
following information:
Verify the area available for foundation.
Verify Foundation location and Elevation
Pipe supports and Nozzle loads on tank (Dp)
Location and size of Platforms around the tank
Locations of underground pipes
Electrical and Instrument duct banks
Locations and extent of adjacent foundations
Verify the location and extent of new/existing foundations not shown in 3D model or plot plan.
Step-3 : Loads on concrete ring beam and on the confined compacted granular fill in-side the ring:
You need to place concrete ring beam in such a way that outer surface of the tank shell should be the center of ring
beam. Consider the following loads on ring beam and on granular compacted fill inside the concrete ring.
Geotechnical Data:
Before starting the design, you need to collect the following information about soil:
Allowable Bearing Pressure
Density of Soil
Co-efficient of earth pressure at rest (Ko)
Loads on Ring beam:
Total weight of tank shell (vertical load), kN / m (DL)
Total weight of roof , for fixed roof case. For floating roof, part of the roof weight will come on the ring beam, kN /
m (DL)
Total live load on roof , for fixed roof case. For floating roof, part of the live load will come on the ring beam, kN /
m (LL)
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Self weight of soil / Beam + Self weight of tank + Product weight + Internal pressure
Self weight of soil / Beam + Self weight of tank + Product weight + Internal Pressure
Self weight of soil / Beam + Self weight of tank + Product weight + Internal pressure +
Self weight of soil / Beam + Self weight of tank + Product weight + Internal pressure +
Self weight of soil / Beam + Self weight of tank + Product weight + Internal pressure +
Total Hoop tension (T) = (Sursoil + Surudl) x (0.5 x centerline diameter of ring beam)
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Total Hoop tension (T) = (Sursoil + Surudl) x (0.5 x centerline diameter of ring beam)
Factored Hoop Tension load can be calculated as per step-3.
Required area of Hoop reinforcement is, Ast = (Factored Hoop tension) / (0.9 x yeild stress of rebar---fy)
The ringwall must also be designed to take care circumferential bending moments due to the vertical load being
applied eccentrically to the ringwall center line.
The ringwall should be reinforced on both faces, with vertical reinforcement (stirrups) closest to the concrete surfaces.
Not more than 50% of the hoop reinforcement should be lapped at any one position.
Step-6 : Anchor Bolt Design:
Anchor bolt shall be checked per design criteria and Tenssion & Shear load supplied by vendor. If wind and shear
forces are not supllied by vendor, you need to calculate the anchorage load from API 650. Anchor bolt shall be
designed for ductility failure. If required, additional reinforcement to be provided around the anchor bolt.
For a typical concrete ring beam detail click here.
I hope this page will be very helpful to you to understand the basic design of a concrete ring beam for storage tank.
Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. Please do not print or copy of this page or any part of this page without written
permission from Subhro Roy.
Disclaimer: This page is prepared based on experience on Civil Engineering Design. All definitions and most of the
explanations are taken from different text books and international design codes, which are referenced in the contents. Any
similarity of the content or part of with any company document is simply a coincidence. Subhro Roy is not responsible for
that.
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