Strength, toughness and structural integrity of storage tanks in urban environment

Abstract

Urban development requires the application of different kind of storage tanks for liquid and gaseous fluids, which can also be hazardous and detrimental. In order to prevent the leakage and, eventually, catastrophic failure odd storage tanks in urban environment, strict requirements for their safe service are necessary, they include the experiments and testing regarding strength, toughness and structural integrity. Typical examples are cylindrical and spherical storage tanks, tanks for road and rail road transportation and liquefied butane - propane tanks, with welded joints as critical region. Applied materials and manufacturing procedures are different, affecting the properties of welded joints. Although quality assurance for tanks manufacturing, nowadays required through codes and standards for welded joints, improved their in-service properties, problems with failures of this equipment can still be met. Anyhow, the old tanks, produced even before 30 or more years, are still in service, in many cases without necessary documentation, and they require special care. The results of selected testing and experiments with tanks, applied in urban environment, will be presented and discuss. The attention will be paid to experimental analysis of strength, toughness and structural integrity properties of welded joints, including mismatching effect, simulation of heat-affected zone, crack behavior in different environment condition. This will be supported by fitness-for-purpose analysis.