Full Length Research Paper

Parametric study on the effect of burial depth on the surface explosion resistance of cylindrical concrete oil tanks

M. Aboutalebi*, M. R. Banan and M. R. Banan

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering School, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: aboutalebi.morteza@gmail.com.

Accepted 30 November, 2009.

   Abstract

In this paper, the effect of surface explosions on the buried cylindrical concrete oil tanks regarding various parameter changes has been studied. The finite element method has been applied to determine the structural target responses and ANSYS 11.0 macro file was utilized to model more than 7500 models. Moreover, an economical study was performed to prove the favorable effect of increase in the burial depth on the optimum point on the basis of explosion factors and covering soil and structural specifications.

Keywords: Explosion, oil tanks, cylindrical concrete, burial depth.