In severe seismic environments, tanks for storage of liquefied natural gas may benefit
from seismic isolation. As the design accelerations increase, the inner tank undergoes
progressively greater demands and may suffer from corner uplift, elephant’s
foot buckling, gross sliding, shell thickness requirements beyond what can
be reliably welded and, eventually, global uplift. Some of these problems
cause extra costs while others make the construction impossible. The seismic
environments at which the previous problems arise are quantified for modern
160,000 m
tanks, whether supported on shallow or pile foundations, for both a conventional
design and one employing seismic isolation. Additionally, by introducing some
cost assumptions, comparisons can be made as to the cost of dealing with
the seismic threat for each seismic environment and tank design option. It
then becomes possible to establish the seismic environments that require
seismic isolation, as well as to offer guidance for decisions in intermediate
cases.