literature review on water tank

• Open access
• Published: 22 February 2021

The effect of household storage tanks/vessels and user practices on the quality of water: a systematic review of literature

• Musa Manga 1 , 2 , 3 ,
• Timothy G. Ngobi 1 ,
• Lawrence Okeny 1 ,
• Pamela Acheng 1 ,
• Hidaya Namakula 1 ,
• Elizabeth Kyaterekera 3 ,
• Irene Nansubuga 4 &
• Nathan Kibwami 1  

Environmental Systems Research volume  10 , Article number:  18 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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Household water storage remains a necessity in many communities worldwide, especially in the developing countries. Water storage often using tanks/vessels is envisaged to be a source of water contamination, along with related user practices. Several studies have investigated this phenomenon, albeit in isolation. This study aimed at developing a systematic review, focusing on the impacts of water storage tank/vessel features and user practices on water quality.

Database searches for relevant peer-reviewed papers and grey literature were done. A systematic criterion was set for the selection of publications and after scrutinizing 1106 records, 24 were selected. These were further subjected to a quality appraisal, and data was extracted from them to complete the review.

Results and discussion

Microbiological and physicochemical parameters were the basis for measuring water quality in storage tanks or vessels. Water storage tank/vessel material and retention time had the highest effect on stored water quality along with age, colour, design, and location. Water storage tank/vessel cleaning and hygiene practices like tank/vessel covering were the user practices most investigated by researchers in the literature reviewed and they were seen to have an impact on stored water quality.

Conclusions

There is evidence in the literature that storage tanks/vessels, and user practices affect water quality. Little is known about the optimal tank/vessel cleaning frequency to ensure safe drinking water quality. More research is required to conclusively determine the best matrix of tank/vessel features and user practices to ensure good water quality.

Tank/vessel material and retention time of water most affect the water quality of stored water.

Cleaning of tank/vessel improves the microbiological and physicochemical quality of stored water.

The optimal tank/vessel cleaning frequency to ensure good drinking water quality is not defined in literature.

Sustainable Development Goal, Target 6.1, addresses universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water, implying that it is geared towards ensuring that all people in the world can access water in the right amounts, quality, and cost, in a sustainable manner. A 2019 report by the World Bank indicates that the proportion of the world’s population using safely managed drinking water services has been increasing, even before the adoption of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). However, despite these efforts, the world still faces an invisible crisis of poor water quality, which threatens amongst other things, the wellbeing of humans (World Bank  2019 ). Water of both acceptable quality and sufficient quantity, is critical for proper human health and wellbeing. For many years, attention has been focused on both access to and quality of water, but while access to safe water has significantly improved worldwide, quality appears to be further declining and it has been deteriorating more than proportionally to the economic and population growth (Boretti and Rosa 2019 ). Good quality water is one that has acceptable chemical, physical, biological, and radiological characteristics, based on local and widely-acceptable international standards, such as World Health Organization standards. The diminishing quality of water can be attributed to contamination at different points of the water supply system including distribution and storage (Al-Bahry et al.  2009 ,  2011 ). Although many organizations both local and international have been directing vast efforts towards the improvement of water quality, water contamination is still rampant. Contamination, whether directly or indirectly, by human or animal excreta, particularly faeces is the most common and widespread health risk associated with drinking water (Raju et al.  2011 ; Manga et al.  2020 ; Fleming et al.  2019 ).

Water storage, the main feature of the indirect cold water supply system (see Fig.  1 ), and many other un-piped water supply systems has for many years been identified as a source of contamination of domestic water. In fact, because of this, the kitchen sink in the indirect cold water supply system receives water directly from the mains, instead of the storage tank.

Indirect cold water supply system (Doctor DIY  2021 )

Household water storage is fraught with many challenges which ultimately result in compromising the quality of water (Nnaji et al.  2019 ). Water storage tanks do harbor several pathogens that cause different diseases and illnesses. Waterborne illnesses caused by bacteria found in contaminated household water storage tanks increases the risk of spreading waterborne diseases, and may lead to many infectious outbreaks (Khan and AlMadani  2016 ).

With the projection by the United Nations (2018) that nearly 6 billion people will be faced with clean water scarcity by 2050 (Boretti and Rosa 2019 ), there is a critical need to investigate sources of water contamination. Several studies many of which from the developing world, have investigated the impact of water storage on water quality. For instance, Schafer ( 2010 ), Ziadat ( 2005 ), Mohanan et al. ( 2017 ) and Douhri et al. ( 2015 ) focused on the impacts of storage material on water quality while Holt ( 2005 ) and Agensi et al. ( 2019 ) focused on the impacts of user practices on stored household water quality. However, to date, there is no single study found in literature, that comprehensively reviewed tank features and user practices in relation to household water contamination factors. Having such comprehensive knowledge would aid further research and policy into mitigating the impact of storage on household water quality. This review, therefore, seeks to fill this gap by systematically reviewing literature to answer the following research questions: (1) What features of storage tanks/vessels and user practices impact on household water quality? (2) How do the features of storage tanks/vessels and user practices affect household water quality? (3) What can be done to mitigate the effects of the storage tank/vessel features and user practices on water quality?

The methodology adopted included a systematic literature review approach in order to identify the most relevant articles to be included in the study, citation network analysis of the selected articles and a quality appraisal framework (Colicchia and Strozzi  2012 ; Anthonj et al.  2020 ; Venkataramanan et al.  2018 ).

Search strategy

Literature searches were conducted in ScienceDirect, PubMed, Scirus, and Web of Knowledge using the following search terms: “water quality in tanks” or “drinking water quality under indirect water supply” or “drinking water in storage tanks” or “domestic water” or “household water storage” or “water contamination in storage containers and vessels’’ or “domestic water contamination” or “contamination in tanks”. The databases were selected because they were leading databases on scientific research. Searches were also conducted in the Google and Google Scholar search engines, where the first 50 hits were checked for potentially relevant papers.

On identifying some relevant papers, additional studies were obtained from the reference lists and their titles were used as search terms on Google and Google Scholar search engines, leading to databases from which related studies were found by choosing the “show similar studies” search option while searching the databases.

Selection criteria

Published peer reviewed papers and grey literature obtained from the comprehensive searches were considered eligible to be included in the review only if they met the following criteria:

Reported on water quality in storage tanks, vessels, or containers in households;

Based on empirical research;

Published by Accredited Organizations;

Were written in English;

Published between 2000 and 2019.

Studies that did not meet the above criteria were excluded. Full texts of publications that met the criteria were retrieved and reviewed in detail by a group of reviewers for quality, assessment of bias, and relevance to study objectives.

The selection methodology process of records included in this study is as shown in Fig.  2 . A total of 1091 records were obtained from peer-reviewed journal database searches using the search strategy mentioned in " Search strategy " Section. From web searches, a total of 15 records of grey literature related to the subject were found. There were 117 duplicate records and these were discarded. The remaining had their abstracts and executive summaries screened to check their eligibility to be included in the review. A total of 952 of the obtained records whose abstracts and executive summaries were scanned did not meet the criteria. These focused mainly on distribution and sources of water rather than household tank storage, and on this premise they were eliminated. Therefore, 37 records were found eligible for full-text review but only 22 of them met the criteria for inclusion in the review. From citation network analysis, 2 relevant papers were found and included in the study. Eventually, 24 publications were purposively selected to be reviewed, based on the selection criteria discussed above.

Selection process

Data extraction

Basing on the research questions, data was extracted from the selected records to complete this study. The data collected from the reviewed final sample of studies included: Storage tank or vessel features investigated; Household user practices in regards to the stored water and storage tanks; Geographical location of the studies; and Water quality indicators used (see Table  1 ; Fig.  3 ). This data was envisaged to be adequate for this review study.

After ensuring that all reviewers had a similar understanding of the data extraction process and the type of data that was targeted, they independently analyzed the records that were included in the final sample of literature and extracted the data. To check the consistency of the data, the reviewers maintained an online google sheet and google document such that all reviewers could highlight the discrepancies and inconsistencies in the data. All identified relationships in the final sample of studies or their supplementary materials were considered, whether established quantitatively or qualitatively. These were tabulated in a Microsoft Excel database for analysis.

Geographical distribution of the studies; the majority in developing countries

Quality appraisal

To characterize the quality of the publications or records selected and included in this review, a framework was developed for quality appraisal and this framework was guided by previous studies (Venkataramanan et al.  2018 ; Jack et al.  2010 ; Heale and Twycross  2015 ; Loevinsohn  1990 ; Pluye et al.  2009 ; Puzzolo et al.  2013 ; Spencer et al.  2003 ; Thomas et al.  2004 ). The developed framework was used to assess the quality of reporting and bias in each of the literature publications included in the study. The framework enabled the reviewers to check the elaborateness of the objectives of each study, the context, methodology appropriateness, randomization, independence of data collection, the statistical significance of results for quantitative studies, subjection to external peer-reviewing, and the conclusion appropriateness. Each of these appraisal criteria was assigned a score between 0 and 2 and the total score to categorize the overall risk of bias as high, moderate, or low was computed (Majuru et al.  2016 ). Table  2 shows the framework that was used for quality appraisal of the records that were included in the review. However, Table  3 shows the scoring and categorization of the overall quality of writing and risk of bias of each of the records that were included in the review. As can be seen, only one of the reviewed studies has a ‘high’ risk of bias because its overall quality of writing was low.

Ninety-2 % of the literature reviewed was quite identical in terms of paper content arrangement, methodology, and gist. Twenty-two of reviewed studies conducted a bacteriological and physicochemical analysis on water in storage tanks/vessels whereas 2 studies were specifically physicochemical analyses of tank/vessels water quality.

User practices like tank cleaning frequencies were investigated in a few of the reviewed research works. The studies reviewed were quantitative and qualitative from disciplines such as environmental engineering, water quality, and public health. To elaborate on how features and practices affect water quality, discussions of these phenomena were discussed in relation to the water quality indicators used in the studies. The results were presented under the following themes: Stored water contamination indicators; Water contamination in tanks/ vessels; and, Effects of user practices on water quality.

Stored water contamination indicators

The contamination indicators that were used to assess the quality of stored water in the reviewed research studies can be broadly categorized as biological and physicochemical.

Biological indicators of stored water contamination

The biological contamination indicators also known as the microbial or bacteriological indicators are widely used in the analysis of water quality in storage vessels. The use of bacteria as indicators of the sanitary quality of water, probably dates back to 1880 when Von Fritsch described Klebsiella pneumoniae and K. rhinoscleromatis as microorganisms characteristically found in human faeces (Geldreich  1978 ). In the publications reviewed in this study, multiple parameters were used to indicate microbial contamination, as shown in Fig.  4 .

Total coliforms are a group of related bacteria that are often useful indicators of other pathogens in drinking water. They were the most used microbiological contamination indicator, as it was considered in several studies (n = 17) of those reviewed. This was followed by E. coli and faecal coliforms that were considered in (n = 12) and (n = 8) studies, respectively. These are low numbers, considering the important role E. coli and faecal coliforms play in confirmation of faecal contamination.

Heterotrophic Aerobic Bacteria was another indicator considered by most of the reviewed studies. Some studies considered Klebsiella , Enterobacter , Serratia , Citrobacter , Tatumella , Escherichia vulneris (Al-Bahry et al.  2013 ), Salmonella spp., Legionella spp., Yersinia spp., Aeromonas spp., Pseudomonas , Pasteurella spp. (Duru et al.  2013 ), Slime Forming Bacteria, Iron Related Bacteria (Schafer and Mihelcic  2012 ), and phytoplankton species (Duru et al.  2013 ) as the other indicators of microbial contamination.

Microbial indicators used in the reviewed studies

Overall, the choices of indicators of microbial contamination appeared to be in line with WHO’s guidelines for water sampling and analysis, which require testing for indicators of faecal contamination as a minimum requirement. E. coli and faecal coliforms are the best indicators of faecal contamination because they confirm the presence of faecal matter, which are considered to pose the greatest risk to human health. Salmonella typhi. , a bacterium that causes typhoid fever; a very common infection in developing countries was not investigated by the reviewed studies.

Physicochemical indicators of stored water contamination

These are physical and chemical aspects of water used in determining whether its quality is acceptable or not. Some of the common physicochemical contamination indicators that were used in characterising the quality of water in the studies reviewed included: pH, Electrical Conductivity, Total Dissolved Solids, Total Suspended Solids, Turbidity, Temperature, Dissolved Oxygen, Iron Fe + , Cu, NO 3 − , PO 4 , Zn, Cr, Pb, Zn, K, Mn, Cl (free and residual). pH was the most widely used parameter for physiochemical characterisation of stored water in the studies included in this review (n = 12; 50 %).

pH is paramount in checking the corrosiveness of water and the lower the pH the more corrosive the water, because of its acidic tendencies at low pH values (World Health Organization  2007 ). The water source, the material of the water storage tank or vessel, the temperature, mineral absorption, dust, the level of bacterial activity in a vessel, and the duration of water storage before use, affect the pH of water (Duru et al.  2013 ; Packiyam et al.  2016 ).

Electrical conductivity (EC) came second in frequency of use as a water quality indicator among the studies included in the review. 10 of the 24 (42 %) studies considered EC as a dependent variable, as there was a correlation between the level of Total Dissolved solids (TDS) and EC (see Fig.  5 ). This is depicted in the study conducted by Akuffo et al. ( 2013 ), where the EC value increased with an increase in the TDS value. About 38 % of the reviewed 24 studies used TDS to describe the physicochemical nature of water stored (see Fig.  5 ). The esthetic quality of water in terms of colour is affected by the level of TDS (Oram  2020 ). The age and material of the tanks were found to affect the TDS of stored water (Nunes et al.  2018 ). However, no study of those included in this review undertook to determine the degree of correlation between the TDS and the EC. TDS has also been criticized as a poor parameter for measuring water quality as it does not detail the contents of the dissolved solids (Magnus  2019 ).

Heavy metals such as Fe + , Cu, and Mn were also used in the assessment of water quality in (n = 6), (n = 6), and (n = 5) studies, respectively (see Fig.  5 ). Heavy metals have an adverse effect when they accumulate in the human body as they can cause damage or reduce the mental central nervous function, lower energy levels, and damage body organs (Verma and Dwivedi  2013 ). Fe + was seen predominantly in tanks that were made of steel and it was in high concentration where the tanks were relatively old (Al-Ghanim et al.  2014 ; Chia et al.  2013 ; Chalchisa et al.  2017 ; Schafer and Mihelcic  2012 ; Nunes et al.  2018 ). The cleaning of the tanks also affects the concentration and accumulation of heavy metals. In a study by Ziadat ( 2005 ), it was noted that the level of heavy metals in water stored in tanks was elevated because the tanks were old and worn out, and had not been cleaned in a long time.

A study in Venezuela found temperature to be an important parameter of water quality because it affects the rate of microbial growth (Schafer and Mihelcic  2012 ). According to the same study, temperatures of 15 °C and/or higher inside water storage tanks can cause significant bacterial growth. Other physicochemical indicators that were included in some of the of the reviewed studies were odour and taste (Duru et al.  2013 ; Varghese and Jaya  2008 ). Figure  5 shows the frequency of the key physicochemical indicators of water quality used in the studies reviewed.

Physicochemical indicators used in the studies reviewed

Water contamination in household tanks

Due to intermittent water supply problems in many parts of the world, especially developing countries, water storage using tanks as well as small containers such as jerry-cans are commonly used by households to reserve water for use throughout the day. Rural communities use small containers that can easily be transported from the water sources to homes, while urban communities have piped water, therefore use water storage tanks to reserve water. There is a great deal of concern regarding in-house microbial contamination during handling and storage of water in developing countries (Akuffo et al.  2013 ).

Ziadat ( 2005 ) evaluated the impact of residential storage tanks on drinking water quality in comparison to its drinking water source, through analysis of major anions, cations, and heavy metals. It was found that the water in storage tanks had higher ionic concentrations compared to the sources. Rusting was suggested as a possible cause since most of the tanks had rusted. However, according to the WHO, most chemicals arising in drinking water are of health concern only after extended years of exposure rather than months. The study by Graham and VanDerslice ( 2007 ) investigated the effectiveness of large household water storage tanks for protecting the quality of drinking water in El Paso County, Texas, and found that the water from the tanks was generally of poor quality. Longer storage periods of household water were noticed for households with large water tanks, which may have potentially increased the risk of contamination, and also led to chlorine volatilisation.

The study by Schafer and Mihelcic ( 2012 ) found that water storage impacts on water quality through storage tank material, which is most likely because of different water temperatures inside the tank. It was further found that storage tank designs can affect water quality if they do not allow the tanks to be completely emptied during use or cleaning. This may however not be an issue of tank design, but rather, the workmanship of the plumbers, because provisions for the outlets and washouts are usually made by manufacturers and the plumbers use these provisions to install the washouts and outlets depending on the size of pipes to be connected. Interestingly, the age of water storage tanks was found not to have any significant impact on water quality. However, a study by Al-Ghanim et al. ( 2014 ) contradicted this and suggested that the high levels of TDS in some tanks were as a result of the tanks being old.

A study conducted in Pakistan by Al-Ghanim et al. ( 2014 ) revealed that all tanks were contaminated with heterotrophic bacteria: 80% contained coliforms, 30 % contained fecal coliforms, but E. coli was not detected. It was also found that 60 % of the tanks contained algal counts exceeding 103 unit/l. The study further revealed that different types of tank surfaces encouraged microbial growth differently. The quality of water in the different types of storage tanks was also investigated by Al-Bahry et al. ( 2013 ). Three types of water tanks were examined: glass-reinforced-plastic (GRP), polyethylene (PE), and galvanized iron (GI). Results showed that all water storage tanks supported microbial regrowth with high values of the microbial total count. Microbial regrowth varied with the type of the water storage tanks. Coliforms were isolated from all tanks but were abundantly found in GRP.

The study by Chalchisa et al. ( 2017 ) assessed the quality of drinking water in storage tanks in Ethiopia and found that water samples collected from drinking water storage tanks were positive for total coliforms and faecal coliforms. The result of this study showed that the drinking water was microbiologically contaminated in all sampling points. It was discussed that the high temperature after storage (up to 23.1 °C) increased the number of faecal coliforms in storage tanks. All these studies confirm that water storage impacts the quality of water in many ways.

Effects of household tank/vessel features on quality of stored water

Material of the water storage tank or vessel.

Various tank material types were found to be used in different regions from the literature reviewed as shown in Table  4 . It is important to note that plastic tanks were widely used in the different regions compared to the rest of the tank materials. However, no explanation was given in the literature studied to justify the usage of the different tank materials, whether it was the cost, convenience, availability of the tank material, or climatic conditions of the regions.

Tank material was found to be a leading cause of water contamination. There was a variation in the frequency of microbial contamination relative to each type of water tank (Al-Bahry et al. 2013 ). Water storage tank materials, which are in direct contact with water can contribute contaminants from either the material used for tank construction/ production or from internal coatings used to protect the tank materials from contact with the water (Akuffo et al.  2013 ).

The studies conducted by Akuffo et al. ( 2013 ), Al-Bahry et al. ( 2013 ), Schafer and Mihelcic ( 2012 ) and Schafer ( 2010 ) all agreed that tank material affects water quality through temperature. This could be because different materials have different thermal conductivity, for instance, steel have a higher thermal conductivity and cools faster than plastic under the same weather condition. Additionally, different materials have different heat capacities. A steel tank of a given size absorbs more heat than a plastic tank of the same size. A comparison between fiberglass, fiber cement and black polyethylene tank materials, showed that temperatures are generally higher in the polyethylene tanks throughout the day than in fiberglass, and fiber cement tank materials (Schafer and Mihelcic  2012 ) (see Fig.  6 ). As such microbial activity is expected to be higher in the polyethylene tanks than in other tank materials.

Temperature variation of stored water in tanks of different materials (Schafer and Mihelcic  2012 )

When the temperature of the water reaches above 15 °C, the occurrence of coliforms and heterotrophic bacteria is significantly higher (Khan and AlMadani  2016 ). An investigation conducted by Ogbozige et al. ( 2018 ) revealed that steel metal tanks have more EC than the plastic tanks, suggesting less mineral concentration in the steel metal tanks.

Different tank materials were also found to affect water quality because of the various unique features they possess (Table  5 ). For instance, Ziadat ( 2005 ) and Akuffo et al. ( 2013 ) found that heavy metals dissolve in water because of rusting. Plastic tanks allow certain types of bacteria to stick to the plastic surface and enable growth (Al-Ghanim et al.  2014 ). In the same vein, Jagals et al. ( 2003 ) and Al-Bahry et al. ( 2013 ) found that tank surfaces allow the growth of biofilm. Biofilms provide a variety of microenvironments for microbial regrowth (Al-Bahry et al.  2013 ). These films break loose from the sides especially during filling with no subsequent rinsing and form particulate suspensions in water which harbour significant numbers of viable bacteria (Jagals et al.  2003 ). This could be a major cause of water contamination particularly in developing countries because of the rampant intermittent water supply issues, which result into frequent emptying and refilling of water storage tanks, thus causing dislodging of biofilm into stored water. However, a comparison of the levels of biofilm formation on the different water storage tank materials has not been investigated to-date.

In a study by Mohanan, et al. ( 2017 ) it was concluded that conventional water storage vessels such as copper, brass, and clay possessed antimicrobial activity and were highly efficient against pathogenic bacteria than vessels made up of plastic, steel, and aluminium. In some other reviewed studies, there were contradictory findings on the contamination levels of the different water storage tank/vessel materials. For instance, Al-Bahry et al. ( 2013 ) found that glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) tanks contained the most contaminated water, and polyethylene (PE) tanks contained the least contaminated water. However, Schafer and Mihelcic ( 2012 ) found that PE tanks contained the most contaminated water while GRP tanks contained the least contaminated water. These results could, however, be attributed to other variables that may not have been investigated in these studies. These discrepancies demand further research to determine which materials are best suitable for household water storage. Table  4 shows the studies that focused on the different tank/vessel material and the corresponding values of water quality indicators as per the studies.

Residence/storage time

Tank size and capacity do have an effect on water quality. This is effect is realized through retention or residence time. Microbial growth increases as residence time increases (Schafer  2010 ). Previous studies such as Agensi et al. ( 2019 ) and Chia et al. ( 2013 ) found a significant associations between the duration of water storage and the level of contamination. For instance, Nnaji et al. ( 2019 ) found an average E. coli , total coliforms, and enterococci count of 3, 4, and 3 MPN/100ml on the first day and 8, 69, and 114 MPN/100ml respectively on the 35th day of water storage; heterotrophic plate count (HPC) of 5 CFU/ml on the 1st day and 31 CFU/ml on the 35th day of storage.

The study by Ogbozige et al. ( 2018 ) investigated the effect of storage duration on water quality in different material containers. The study revealed that the maximum retention period for storing water in all the container materials studied as inferred from the water quality was about 21 days, except for clay-pot material where the study showed that its retention period should not exceed 6 days; however, the uncoated steel metal tank was not recommended. It was concluded that black plastic containers preserved water quality better during storage, compared to coloured plastic containers, galvanized iron or coated steel containers, and clay pots.

Large storage tanks allow for longer water storage periods, which may potentially increase the risk of contamination and chlorine volatilisation (Graham and VanDerslice  2007 ). However, a factor that has not been well investigated by any of the reviewed studies is the fact that the residence time also depends on the household size and per capita water usage. A large tank serving a large household size or a small tank serving a small household size, both with high per capita water use, implies that the water residence time in the tank is very short, and thus it is less likely to get contaminated during storage. Conversely, a large tank serving a small household size with low per capita water use, may result into longer water residence time in the tank, and hence potentially more contamination during storage may be witnessed.

In the study by Al-Bahry et al. ( 2013 ) it was noted that the water distribution system started with low microbial contamination. However, when water was transferred to storage tanks, microbial contamination spread rapidly due to water stagnation. Static water is undesirable because this condition provides an opportunity for the suspended particles to settle in the tank as sediments and later stick on the sides of the tank. There is a need for further research on this phenomenon because it may also be argued that the biological and physical chemical contamination per unit of water in large tanks may be lower as compared to that in small tanks based of the amount of time the water is stagnant in the different tank sizes, given a constant number of users for all the tanks.

Tank/ vessel age, colour, design, and location

These four tank/vessel features were investigated by only a few studies; each was investigated by either one or two studies.

Tank age While Chia, et al. ( 2013 ) found a significant relationship between the age of the water storage tanks and the occurrence of a significant number of the pathogen species, Schafer and Mihelcic ( 2012 ) found no meaningful effect of tank age on water quality. The argument was that tanks that well-maintained tanks do not affect water quality even after many years of use. Proper maintenance ensures that undesirable conditions such as biofilm, rusts, broken covers, etc. are removed or restored to good conditions, enabling tanks to maintain good water quality.

Tank colour Chia et al. ( 2013 ) found that the colour of the tanks had a significant association with physicochemical parameters such as dissolved oxygen and biological oxygen demand, which also determined the occurrence and abundance of 9 (including 2 cyanobacteria) out of the 13 species reported in the study. Water storage tank colour may also affect water quality through temperature, since different colours absorb heat to varying extents, affecting the temperature of the water in the tanks differently. Darker colours absorb more heat than lighter colours. However, dark-coloured (plastic) tanks are more commonly used than light coloured tanks, especially in developing countries. Schafer ( 2010 ) found black polyethylene among the most common types of tanks in Bolivia. Chia et al. ( 2013 ) had a third of the water storage tanks investigated in Nigeria as black. In the same vein, the storage tanks provided by the government in El Paso County, Texas, USA and investigated by Graham and VanDerslice ( 2007 ) were also dark in colour. This could be further affecting water quality because high temperatures encourage bacteria growth as discussed above in the section of “ Material of the water storage tank or vessel ”.

Tank design This study review revealed that tank design affects water indirectly by affecting user practices. A study by Schafer ( 2010 ) reported that increased microbial growth in household storage tanks compared to water sources may be due to the design of household storage tanks, which sometimes complicates the complete emptying of the storage tank while in use or during washouts. However, the challenge of completely emptying the water storage tanks may also be attributed to the wrong pipe configuration of outlet and washout pipes on the tanks—as a result of poor workmanship of plumbers.

Tank location This affects water quality through temperature. In the study by Schafer ( 2010 ), the temperature of water in a black polyethylene tank was high when the tank was positioned under direct sunlight, but the temperature of water dropped when the tank was covered by a shade of a wall; while the temperature of water in a fibreglass tank continued to rise because it remained under direct sunlight. Bacterial growth would therefore be expected to be higher in the fiberglass tank than the black polythene tank. However, as earlier discussed in this same section under ‘colour’, a black tank absorbs more heat than lightly coloured tanks. The same study found that the temperature of water in the black polyethylene tank remained higher than that of the other types of tanks throughout the day, including the period when it was under the shade.

Effects of user practices on quality of household tank/vessel stored water

Tank/vessel covering.

Water storage tanks have an impact on the water quality if they are not handled in hygienic ways such as sealing or covering of the storage tanks (Chalchisa et al.  2017 ; Akuffo et al.  2013 ). Lack of tank covers, potentially increases the risk of contamination of stored water with animal and bird faeces, as well as dust and airborne particulates. This facilitates the growth of algae when the tanks are exposed to sunlight, and lead to undesirable changes in the taste, odor, and color of water (Al-Ghanim et al.  2014 ). Only a few of the reviewed studies investigated tank covering. There may be other implications of tank covering that were not investigated by the reviewed studies. For instance, if an elevated tank supplied by municipal water and located outside a house is not covered, rainwater my fall into the tank and thus increase the volume of water in the tank. Consequently, this would reduce the residual chlorine of the stored water.

Tank/vessel cleaning

Cleaning practices of water storage tank/vessel have impact on household water quality. Several studies did investigate tank cleaning (Rodrigo et al.  2010 ; Lévesque et al.  2008 ; Jagals et al.  2003 ; Schafer  2010 ; Nnaji et al.  2019 ). The study by Jagals et al. ( 2003 ) found that biofilm-like substances could build up in storage tanks or containers (especially in those not regularly cleaned), which could contribute to hazardous microbiological contamination of container-stored drinking water, especially if particles from the film become dislodged into, and ingested with the water. In a study by Lévesque et al. ( 2008 ), the effect of tank cleaning on water quality was investigated and the results showed that the contamination levels were almost the same for water tanks that had not been cleaned in a range of three years (2000 to 2002), but the contamination had strongly reduced in the year 2003 when the cleaning was carried out. Similarly, the study by Pesewu, et al. (2014) found that the recent cleaning of three (3) polyethylene tanks was responsible for lowering their total coliform and faecal coliform counts.

The study Schafer and Mihelcic ( 2012 ) found that the cleaning frequency of tanks impacts the quality of water in the storage tanks. The study found that storage tanks cleaned three (3) or more times per year had lower E. coli counts and turbidity than storage tanks cleaned less frequently (Table  6 ). The study by Chia et al. ( 2013 ) suggested that possible means of continuous contamination and recontamination that encourage the growth or re-growth of microalgae and cyanobacteria in the water storage tanks include inadequate periodic cleaning or scrubbing of the tanks. The study by Nnaji et al. ( 2019 ) found that total coliforms, enterococci, HPC, and E. coli counts increased with an increase in the intervals of regular cleaning as shown in Fig.  7 ; Table  6 .

(Adopted after Nnaji et al. ( 2019 ))

Effect of tank cleaning on the bacteriological quality of water

The study by Akuffo, et al.,(2013) also found that certain types of tanks (earthen) had less degree of contamination compared with other types (polyethylene and metal tanks) because among other reasons, they were cleaned more frequently. In Al-Ghanim, et al., ( 2014 ), it was found that 80 % of the tanks were not frequently cleaned, and therefore contained contaminated water. It can clearly be seen that results from the various studies do agree that cleaning practices of water storage tanks have a significant effect on the stored quality of water. However, the recommended cleaning frequency is still unclear.

Limitation of the study

This study only focused on studies written in the English language and there was no inclusion of studies or records made in other languages. As such, non-English studies that would provide knowledge on the subject studied may have been missed out. Also, the selection of grey literature was limited to theses and publications from accredited institutions and organizations, and thus there is a likelihood that some data may not have been captured from all the available grey literature.

Conclusions and recommendations

The objective of this study was to identify what water storage tank features and user practices affect water quality, how they affect water quality, and recommendations on how their effect can be mitigated. A systematic literature review was conducted to answer these questions. The identified features of water storage tanks that affect water quality include tank/ vessel material, colour, design, location, and retention time. The pronounce user practices that was seen to affect the water quality in storage tanks/vessels were cleaning; and covering. This study suggests tank/vessel material and retention time of water in tanks/ vessels as the key features that had the highest impact on water quality. However, there is a contradiction regarding the most suitable material to curb bacteriological contamination. Further research is recommended to expressly determine the tank/ vessel material that is best suited for bacteriological and physiochemical contamination.

While the practice of tank cleaning was seen to affect water quality, there is a need to carry out research to determine the optimal cleaning frequency of the storage tanks or vessels that guarantees safe drinking water quality. Additionally, use of proper cleaning methods and tools; reduction of water storage periods by using tank sizes that match the number of household members and per capita water use; covering tanks/vessels; treatment of water at the household level for instance by boiling or chlorination; regular maintenance of storage tanks/vessels including replacement of old tanks; community education, adoption, and promotion of appropriate water safety plans; use of light-coloured tanks/vessels; improvement of tank design to ease cleaning and maintenance; and locating tanks under shades are some of the measures that can significantly reduce contamination or pathogens in the stored household water, and improve household water quality.

Tank/ vessel cleaning was the most investigated practice, but there is a need to investigate other user practices that are envisaged to affect water quality like mixing water from different sources in storage vessels and chlorination or treatment of water in the storage vessel. Comprehensive inclusive studies should be conducted to assess the effect of other user practices on stored water quality, involving key informant interviews, surveys, and experimental tests with large samples to enhance the reliability of data, ensure dissemination of information, contribute to feasible recommendations and implementation of interventions. A multivariate contamination prediction model should be developed combining all the tank/ vessel features and maintenance/ user practices to determine the best matrix for safe storage of water at the household level. In addition, comparison of the economic implications of choosing different tank types through life cycle costing and cost benefit analysis would be useful.

Availability of data materials

Not Applicable. There are no linked research data sets for this review as no data was used for the research described in the manuscript.

Abbreviations

Biochemical oxygen demand

Dissolved oxygen

Electrical conductivity

Escherichia coli

Glass reinforced plastic

Heterotrophic plate counts

Most probable number

Sulfate/sulphate ion

Sustainable development goals

Total dissolved solids

Total suspended solids

Polyethylene

Total heterotrophic plate count

World Health Organization

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge all the reviewers and the GIS expert Ms. Atuhaire Christine for the tremendous work done during this study and all the team members that contributed to this article.

This research was funded by Makerere University Research and Innovation Fund under grant [RIF 1/CEDAT/010]. This review paper constitutes a part of the research project on examining the effect household water storage tanks/ vessel features and related user practices on the quality of water. This study helped in identifying gaps in literature that could culminate in further research.

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MM, LO and TGN conceived and designed the review. TGN, LO, MM, PA, and HN extracted the data from the literature. MM, TGN, and LO summarized the data in tabular and graphical form and wrote the manuscript. NK, IN, and EK provided comments and feedback on the interpretation of the results and reviewed the manuscript. MM acquired funding. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Influence of Soil–Structure Interaction in Elevated Water Tank

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This paper presents the effect of soil–structure interaction (SSI) on the response of elevated water tank in different types of soil medium. Two intze-type elevated water tanks of the same capacity and the same dynamic characteristics, one with frame staging and the other with shaft staging, based on three different soil types are chosen to check the influence of SSI due to three representative earthquakes. Modeling of elevated water tank–soil foundation system is done using ANSYS Workbench ® . Soil mass is considered large enough to avoid reflection of Rayleigh waves. While the bottom of the soil mass is considered fixed, vertical rollers are provided in the vertical faces of the soil mass to account for semi-infinite nature of the soil. Time history analysis is performed on the multiple systems. It is found that the gravity load design of Krishna Raju (Krishna Raju, Advanced reinforced concrete design (IS: 456-2000) (English), CBS Publisher, 2015) is not valid for seismicity-prone region.

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A review of the literature on the underground (buried) storage tanks

The main objective of fluid storage tanks construction is to construct safe and low-cost storage tanks which are resistant against earthquake. But in the computer design methods for the design of low cost and high performance storage tanks, little attention has been paid to development of quantities. In this study, first the underground tanks were compared to non-underground storage tanks and the results showed that underground tanks had better performance in terms of maximum displacement and stress against their wall. Afterwards, the impact of changes made in the underground tanks through the depth of underground tank, the type of soil around the tank, the distribution of dynamic pressure by different fluids, the impact of water depth on the tank frequency, and ratio of length to height on frequency of the tank, was investigated. The results of this study suggest that any increase in the tank depth leads to an increase of the tension and displacement and with softer soil around the tank more critical results will be achieved. In addition, the fluid dynamic pressure distribution is strongly linked to the specific weight of the fluid. With any rise in the water level of the tank or increase of length to height ratio, the frequency of the tank is reduced. KEYWORDS: underground tanks, dynamic pressure of fluids, the depth of underground tank. _________________________________________________________________________________________ 1. INTRODUCTION Water has long been a determining factor in human life and its presence is one of the amenities of life. That's why people have always been trying to save water and use it in their lives. Early humans, inspired by nature, used any device for water storage. With civilization of human being and construction of elevated structures the need for water and reserving that is felt more than ever before. Considering urban constructions and lack of surface space for water storage tank, and considering that tank is a structure that plays a critical role in vital arteries, construction non-flat tanks (above or below the ground level) is one of the inevitable water storage strategies. Tanks, in terms of their placement, are divided into 2 categories of air and land tanks. Land tanks also can be divided into three categories as follows: 1. buried tanks buried concrete tanks are the tanks that are located at a proper depth under the ground and their walls and roof is covered with soil. In addition to their advantages in terms of camouflage against environmental factors, these tanks are also very suitable for heat exchange. In cold regions, buried tanks should be used to prevent freezing of water (1). Some examples of buried tanks are shown in Figure 1. 2-half-buried tanks Tanks whose wall is often embanked up to half of its height and there is virtually no soil on the tank roof. These tanks are not suitable in terms of camouflage, temperature changes and the expansion and contraction of the roof slab, and according to the terms of passive defense, are not recommended for use in urban drinking water network (1). Examples of half-buried water tanks are presented in Figure 2. 3. Visible tanks These tanks are usually constructed in a visible way in terms of landscape architecture and symbolism, and also in accordance with the environment in order to organize urban, historical and tourism landscapes (1). Examples of visible water tanks are shown in Figure 3. 737

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Water is the basic need of all living organisms for survival. Portable water is essential for good human health. It is important to provide portable water to every individual and every community; therefore it is very important to save water. Usually, water is stored in tanks and then the stored water is delivered through pipelines to each location. Usually, a water tank resting on the ground is a tank for storing water. This case study gives an idea of a safer and more economical design with greater reliability and simplicity. This article helps to understand the philosophy of safe tank optimization. For the safe and economical design of the tank, this study provides various design requirements that affect the strength and support of the structure. This case study is conducted on a reinforced concrete liquid containment structure resting on the ground.

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In general there are three kinds of water tanks-tanks resting on ground, underground tanks and elevated tanks. The tanks resting on ground like clear water reservoirs, settling tanks, aeration tanks etc. are supported on the ground directly. The walls of these tanks are subjected to pressure and the base is subjected to weight of water and pressure of soil. The tanks may be covered on top. The tanks like purification tanks, Imhoff tanks, septic tanks, and gas holders are built underground. The walls of these tanks are subjected to water pressure from inside and the earth pressure from outside. The base is subjected to weight of water and soil pressure. These tanks may be covered at the top. Elevated tanks are supported on staging which may consist of masonry walls, R.C.C. tower or R.C.C. columns braced together. The walls are subjected to water pressure. The base has to carry the load of water and tank load. The staging has to carry load of water and tank. The staging is also designed for wind forces. From design point of view the tanks may be classified as per their shape-rectangular tanks, circular tanks, intze type tanks. spherical tanks conical bottom tanks and suspended bottom tanks. Design requirement of concrete (I.S.I) In water retaining structures a dense impermeable concrete is required therefore, proportion of fine and course aggregates to cement should be such as to give high quality concrete. Concrete mix weaker than M200 is not used. The minimum quantity of cement in the concrete mix shall be not less than 300 kg/m 3. The design of the concrete mix shall be such that the resultant concrete is sufficiently impervious. Efficient compaction preferably by vibration is essential. The permeability of the thoroughly compacted concrete is dependent on water cement ratio. Increase in water cement ratio increases permeability, while concrete with low water cement ratio is difficult to compact. Other causes of leakage in concrete are defects such as segregation and honey combing. All joints should be made watertight as these are potential sources of leakage. Design of liquid retaining structures is different from ordinary R.C.C, structures as it requires that concrete should not crack and hence tensile stresses in concrete should be within permissible limits. A reinforced concrete member of liquid retaining structures is designed on the usual principles ignoring tensile resistance of concrete in bending. Additionally it should be ensured that tensile stress on the liquid retaining face of the equivalent concrete section does not exceed the permissible tensile strength of concrete as given in table 1. For calculation purposes the cover is also taken into concrete area.

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Home > Books > Failure Analysis - Structural Health Monitoring of Structure and Infrastructure Components

A Review on the Dynamic Response of Liquid-Storage Tanks Associated with Fluid-Structure Interaction

Submitted: 22 October 2022 Reviewed: 28 November 2022 Published: 26 December 2022

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.109197

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Water tanks are considered one of the most important facilities in firefighting systems and municipal water supply. These critical water storage and distribution facilities should remain operable even after a severe seismic event or sustain only damages that can be readily repaired. In recent years, the seismic design of storage tanks has been aimed at fulfilling safety requirements and the environmental impact on society. This paper provides a review of research work related to seismic response of liquid-filled tanks. Major contribution from previous research works related to dynamic behavior of liquid tanks are acknowledged in this review. This paper encompasses the phenomenon of fluid-structure interaction and reviews several equivalent mechanical models for liquid storage tanks that account for this phenomenon. The application of each modeling approach and its accuracy in accounting for the fluid-structure interaction are discussed based on available literature and applicable international standards. It was shown that different equivalent modeling approaches that consider the fluid-structure interaction effects can be used to reduce the computational cost and complexity of liquid-tank systems.

• liquid-storage tanks
• infrastructure
• fluid-structure interaction
• liquid sloshing
• dynamic response
• equivalent mechanical models

Author Information

Ayman mohammad mansour.

• School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia

Moustafa Moufid Kassem *

*Address all correspondence to: [email protected]

1. Introduction

Earthquakes result from abrupt release of energy by the slippage of two tectonic plates. The sudden release of strain generates seismic waves that are transferred to the earth’s surface and result in ground motions. These dynamic vibrations create lateral movement in structures, which affects their strength and behavior. The infrastructure system is very critical and should have extra immunity against possible disasters. And natural hazards due its essential function in remaining serviceable to satisfy the water demand for drinking and firefighting purposes [ 1 ].

The dynamic vibrations of liquid-containing structures create the phenomenon of Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI), where the momentum of the oscillating fluid generate lateral pressure on the boundaries of the structure. The study of hydrodynamic pressure on structures can be traced back to the early 1930s. The research work by Westergaard on “Water Pressure on Dams during Earthquakes” is considered the earliest study on the behavior of FSI, where the impulsive pressure on vertical dams under the effect of earthquake excitations was evaluated [ 2 ]. Subsequently, the dynamic response of liquid contained tanks and the FSI phenomenon have been subjects for extensive experimental and numerical investigations by many researchers. Such studies emerged by the efforts of Jacobsen and Ayre [ 3 ], Housner [ 4 ], Veletsos [ 5 ] and later by other researchers such as Mansour and Nazri [ 6 ], Shakib and Alemzadeh [ 7 ], Elansary and El Damatty [ 8 ], and Moslemi et al. [ 9 ]. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive review for the equivalent mechanical models of liquid storage tanks that account for FSI, including the added-mass, single-lumped-mass, two-lumped-mass, spring-mass, three-mass, and other models that were featured in the literature. The theoretical background, application, application, and accuracy for each model were presented based on international standards and available literature.

To “review” has been defined as: “To view, inspect, or examine a second time or again” [ 10 ]. Review studies are amongst the most highly sought types of articles by researchers and are the ones that provide the most substantial contribution [ 10 ]. The body of a review study can be organized in a variety of ways depending on the type and the method of the review study. The literature review refers to the generic term of review which includes published resources that give an evaluation of recent or current literature. Can cover a wide range of topics at varying levels of comprehensiveness and completeness. It’s possible to include study findings. Analysis of the literature review may have different structures, namely, chronological, conceptual, thematic, etc. In a thematic approach, recurring central themes exists, in which the literature review can be divided into subsections that address different aspects of the topic. For the current study, a literature review with a thematic approach was conducted, in which the study was divided into several section; a section for each equivalent mechanical model for liquid-storage tanks associated with fluid-structure interaction.

3. Equivalent mechanical models for the liquid-tank system

Analysis of hydrodynamic pressure in structures such as liquid-storage tanks is more complicated than that of other structures. In the 1960s, Housner [ 4 ] provided a practical idealization for evaluating the hydrodynamic pressure within rectangular and cylindrical tanks that are subjected to horizontal ground motion while assuming the tank walls to be rigid. The Chilean earthquake, that took place in 1960 and damaged several large water tanks, was the main plot behind the paper by Housner [ 4 ]. FSI can be simulated using different simplified modeling approaches (added-mass approach, two lumped-mass model, spring-mass model, etc.). Livaoğlu and Doğangün [ 11 ] presented a comparison and evaluation of some of these modeling methods.

3.1 The added-mass approach

The impulsive hydrodynamic pressure is usually accounted for by introducing added masses. The added mass concept is one of the simplest methods to account for the impulsive hydrodynamic component of liquid pressure. This method has been used for decades in the design of seismic resistant structures, such as gravity dams [ 2 ] and liquid tank containers. The Added-Mass Approach (AMA) relies on few main assumptions, which are water incompressibility and the rigidity of the boundary conditions of the structure. This approach neglects the stiffness effects in the fluid and in general leads to conservative results [ 12 ]. The use of AMA is proven to be a more appropriate technique for finite element modeling than other assumptions such as those characterized using the lumped mass models [ 13 ].

3.2 The single-lumped-mass model

The representation of a single-lumped-mass model for Elevated Water Tanks (EWTs) can be seen in Figure 1 . This concept was introduced in the 1950s [ 14 ] and has two main assumptions. First, for a completely full liquid tank, the water sloshing behavior will not have any vertical movement thus allowing the system to behave as a system with a Single Degree-Of-Freedom (SDOF). Second, the supporting structure acts as a cantilever and is considered to have uniform rigidity along its elevation.

An EWT and its single lumped-mass representation.

According to ACI-371R [ 15 ], this model should be used if the weight of water equals or exceeds 80% of the overall weight of the system. The lumped mass consists of the own-weight of the tank, two-thirds (at maximum) of the own-weight of the supporting structure, and the weight of the contained water.

Previous studies have shown that the use of single lumped-mass model representation of EWTs yields similar results relative to experimental testing and other mechanical models [ 13 ]. In addition, the convective mass may have negligible influence on the natural characteristics of EWTs depending on the geometrical shape of the tank.

3.3 The two-lumped-mass model

The addition of a convective lumped mass relies on the assumption that was presented by Housner [ 16 ] on the relative motion between the storage tank, contained liquid, and the ground. According to his concept, analysis of EWTs can be performed by considering three conditions. First, if the water tank is empty then the sloshing water effect is absent, or if the tank is completely filled with water, then the sloshing effect in the tank is negligible. In this case the EWT will behave as a system with a SDOF, or a one-mass structure. However, the sloshing effect is not neglected where the tank is partially filled. Thereby, this gives the EWT an additional degree-of-freedom, making it a two-mass structure. Consequently, the dynamic analysis of equivalent models must include at least a two-mass system. More lumped convective masses may also be added for ground supported water tanks.

In the simplified analysis procedure for fixed-base EWTs ([ 17 ], ACI-371R), a two lumped masses model usually used to represent the fluid-tank system ( Figure 2 ). Housner [ 4 ] assumed that the two masses to be uncoupled and the seismic forces on the support were evaluated by assuming two separate SDOF systems. The upper mass represents the convective mass of water, which characterizes the motion of the free-liquid-surface. The lower mass represents the impulsive mass of the fluid and the mass of the structure, which is derived by the own-weight of the storage tank plus a portion of the supporting structure’s own-weight [ 11 ]. Lu et al. [ 13 ] showed in his study that the equivalent two-mass model can predict the natural characteristics of water sloshing effect with reasonable accuracy similar to that derived by the much more advanced fluid Finite-Element (FE) technique.

(a) The two mass model for EWT proposed by Housner [ 4 ] and (b) the equivalent uncoupled system.

ACI 350.3 (ACI-350.32006) permits the idealization of EWTs as uncoupled single-lumped masses in order to estimate the natural characteristics of the convective and impulsive components of EWTs. Mansour and Nazri [ 6 ] evaluated the FSI effect on the dynamic response of EWTs. The periods of vibration corresponding to the impulsive and convective components of the EWTs were predicted using the equivalent two-mass model to validate the developed Three-Dimensional (3D) models. By considering the supporting structure of EWTs as a vertical cantilever, the periods of vibration the significant modes (i.e., T i and T c , which are m i and m s related, respectively) of EWT systems can be obtained using the equations presented in Table 1 .

The vibration period of the significant modes of the EWT system.

*Where: K s is the horizontal translation stiffness of the EWT’s supporting structure, m s is the lumped structural mass, whivelech includes mass of water tank and two-thirds of staging mass, m i is the impulsive mass, g is the acceleration due to gravity, equal to 9.81 m/s 2 , and HL and D correspond to the tank’s geometry, i.e., the height and the diameter.

3.4 The spring-mass model

The FE model for a liquid-tank system can be represented by the spring-mass concept, which was originally proposed by Housner [ 4 ]. In the spring-mass model, also referred to as the equivalent mechanical model, the liquid is replaced by two lumped masses: the impulsive and convective masses. The impulsive mass is rigidly connected to the tank walls and the convective mass is connected using elastic springs. Figure 3 illustrates the spring-mass model representation for EWTs based on the principle proposed by Housner [ 4 ]. This modeling technique has been used by researchers as a simplified approach for the assessment of the seismic vulnerability of liquid tanks as opposed to much more complex and computationally intensive approaches, such as the continuum liquid-medium models [ 4 , 6 , 18 ].

The spring mass model representation of an EWT.

The parameters of the mechanical spring-mass model are calculated based on the aspect ratio of the liquid-filled tank [ 19 ]. According to American Concrete Institute (ACI) (ACI-350.32006), the parameters of this model models can be evaluated using the equations presented in Table 2 .

The equations and calculation procedure of the spring-mass model parameters.

The spring-mass model representation of liquid-tank system based on Housner’s analogy is considered adequate for modeling of EWTs and is a widely used concept in many international guidelines for seismic design of tanks and buildings such as Eurocode, ACI, and NZS ([ 20 , 21 ], ACI-350.32006, [ 15 ]). These design guidlines have tweaked Housner’s method with a few changes due to the findings of the subsequent studies on the seismic design of liquid-containing tanks [ 22 , 23 ]. The accuracy and efficiency of the two-mass representation of the EWTs was proved by Shepherd [ 24 ], who compared the theoretical results of a prestressed RC EWT to the experimental testing results. A detailed study conducted by Dutta, Dutta et al. [ 25 ] on RC EWTs integrating soil-structure-fluid interaction shows relatively small differences in in total structural response represented using Westergaard’s AMA and the lumped-mass mechanical analogy.

The equivalent spring-mass model has been used by many researchers to simulate the dynamic behavior of EWTs using a simplified approach. Mansour et al. [ 1 ] investigated the non-linear seismic vulnerability of a set of EWTs with structural variables (i.e., variable staging patterns and contained liquid fill levels) using the performance-based earthquake engineering methodology. The study utilized a developed seismic evaluation tool – the collapse margin indicator – to investigate the dynamic behavior of frame supported EWTs and considered the FSI effect by adding lumped masses that are connected to the tanks’ walls either rigidly or elastically through oscillators as shown in Figure 4 .

The spring-mass model for an EWT [ 1 ].

3.5 The three-mass model

Earlier studies considered rigid tank walls when evaluating the hydrodynamic pressure induced by ground motion records [ 4 , 18 , 26 ]. However, following a series of powerful earthquakes in Japan and the United States that caused severe damage to liquid storage tanks, it was realized that modeling tanks using the rigid-tank concept is insufficient since real tanks experienced significant deformation when subjected earthquake loads. Subsequently, multiple studies were conducted, and it was established that accounting for the tank flexibility and the interaction between the contained fluid and the vibration of the walls can significantly affect the hydrodynamic pressure and consequently the impulsive component of the structural response [ 27 , 28 ]. Over time, assumptions concerning tank properties have been refined progressively to take account of the tank deformability and flexibility of the container and soil interaction effects [ 27 ].

Haroun and Housner [ 27 ] proposed the three-mass model representation for cylindrical tanks subjected to seismic loading as illustrated in Figure 5 . The three masses in this equivalent mechanical model correspond to the impulsive mass, the convective mass, and the mass representing the tank wall’s flexibility. In the following studies, Haroun and Ellaithy [ 23 ] implemented the three-mass model to evaluate the dynamic response of EWT and to assess the influence of the tank walls’ flexibility on the dynamic behavior of EWTs. The effect of higher modes of convective masses on the pressure exerted on the vessel may be not significant, even when the fundamental frequency of the structure is close to the natural frequency of convective mode. A later study by Jaiswal et al. [ 29 ] show negligible differences in the parameters of the equivalent spring-mass mode obtained from rigid and flexible tank wall.

Equivalent 2D system for liquid-filled storage tank with flexible tank wall behavior.

Some studies have identified the hydrodynamic pressure developing inside deformable cylindrical tanks. Haroun and Housner [ 27 ] analyzed the response of flexible liquid-containing tanks using modal superposition. The tank’s walls were modeled as shell elements using the finite element method and the fluid domain was considered using a mathematical boundary solution technique. Previous studies showed that the flexibility of tank causes it to experience rocking wall and base translation, which result in longer impulsive periods and increased effective damping. However, due to convective mode having long period of oscillation, the convective mass can be computed without considering the tank wall and supporting soil flexibilities [ 30 ]. Using two-dimensional space FE modeling, Ghaemmaghami and Kianoush [ 31 ] examined the seismic behavior of two different tank configurations, tall and shallow, while taking the effects of FSI and wall flexibility into account. The results show that incorporating the fluid damping properties and the wall flexibility can drastically affect the dynamic response of the liquid tanks.

3.6 Other equivalent models

While simplified models, such as those developed by Housner [ 4 ] and Haroun and Housner [ 27 ], generate a dynamic response similar to that of a continuum liquid 3D-tank-model [ 32 ], it may not, however, take into account certain aspects that affect the accuracy of the analysis results. In a recent study, Papadrakakis and Fragiadakis [ 33 ] investigated the seismic performance of unanchored liquid-storage tanks having variable tank diameters and liquid-filling heights using two nonlinear FE computational methods; coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian and spring-mass analogy. Results show that the traditional equivalent masses-springs analogy does not consider the effect of uplifting history for ground unanchored liquid tanks and its influence on the tank’s dynamic behavior.

Studies by Sweedan and El Damatty [ 34 ] and El Damatty et al. [ 35 ] verified the application of the previously established analytical and numerical models on combined conical tanks by experimentally identifying their dynamic characteristics. In order to further improve the seismic study of EWTs, Sweedan [ 36 ] suggested a mechanical model to duplicate forces produced in combined EWTs experiencing vertical ground excitation. A schematic of the equivalent idealization is shown in Figure 6 .

Equivalent model for vertically excited combined tanks proposed by Sweedan [ 36 ].

Vathi and Karamanos [ 37 ] studied the base uplifting behavior of ground cylindrical liquid tanks subjected to strong horizontal seismic excitations. A simplified liquid-tank model was developed using the spring-mass model improved by an appropriate rotational spring at its base to take into consideration the tank’s rotation, or rocking, by the impulsive motion due to uplifting ( Figure 7 ). The results from this study mark a significant influence of tank base uplifting on the dynamic response of unanchored tanks.

A simplified model for an unanchored liquid storage tank accounting for base uplifting [ 37 ].

Algreane et al. [ 38 ] introduced an alternative impulsive masses configuration to the dynamic behavior of reinforced concrete EWTs. The proposed model suggests the distribution of the impulsive mass by different alternative configurations in an effort to simplify Westergaard’s AMA technique and reduce computational time. The impulsive mass is divided into 4, 8, 16, 24 and 48 masses, and distributed into wall panels of the tank at the center of gravity of an empty container as shown in Figure 8 .

Alternative masses distribution proposed by Algreane et al. [ 38 ].

4. Conclusion

The functionality of liquid-storage tanks should be ensured during and after natural disasters, e.g., earthquakes, such that under intense ground motions the structural collapse is prevented. Therefore, it is crucial to quantify the safety margin against the structural collapse state for water tanks, which are considered as lifeline structures. Furthermore, the literature shows that the dynamic behavior of these structures is governed by many factors including the tank shape, fluid properties, structural flexibility. Soil characteristics, and the type of supporting structure.

Researchers tend to prefer simple and straightforward modeling techniques for the FE analysis of liquid-tank systems. Different simplified modeling approaches that consider the FSI effects can be used to reduce the complexity and computational cost of liquid-tank systems. The dynamic behavior of liquid-tank systems that is obtained using these modeling techniques can have high accuracy that can match that obtained from continuum liquid-tank systems. A simplified single-mass model could be used if the weight of water equals or exceeds 80% of the overall weight of the liquid-tank system. In the two-mass model representation of liquid-tank system, the hydrodynamic pressure developing within the liquid resulting from the dynamic motion of the liquid tank can be divided into two parts. The liquid mass in the top zone of the tank, called the convective mass, characterizes the motion of the free-liquid-surface. The liquid in the bottom zone of the tank, called the impulsive mass, represents the remaining mass of the fluid and the mass of the structure. A FE model can be represented by a spring-mass model based on Housner’s analogy in which the liquid is replaced by two lumped masses: the impulsive and convective masses. The impulsive mass is connected to the tank walls using rigid links and the convective mass is connected through elastic springs. This modeling approach is effective in reducing the reduce the computational cost and complexity of liquid-tank systems while resulting in moments and forces that are comparable to that obtained from continuum liquid-medium models subjected to the same ground motion records.

Acknowledgments

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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UGC and ISSN approved 7.95 impact factor UGC Approved Journal no 63975

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2349-5162 | Impact Factor 7.95 Calculate by Google Scholar An International Scholarly Open Access Journal, Peer-Reviewed, Refereed Journal Impact Factor 7.95 Calculate by Google Scholar and Semantic Scholar | AI-Powered Research Tool, Multidisciplinary, Monthly, Multilanguage Journal Indexing in All Major Database & Metadata, Citation Generator

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