Study on failure response of steel tank under coupling effect of multi-source blast wave

Abstract

Explosive blast waves significantly contribute to domino accidents, where a chain of multi-tank failures occurs in storage tank areas, leading to severe damage to adjacent tanks. This study establishes a simplified tank model to investigate the impact of both single-source external explosive loading and two-source blast wave coupling on the destructive effects of explosions. The impact of simultaneous detonation on tank damage was analyzed from four perspectives: peak overpressure of coupled blast waves, energy loss, structural deformation, and axial tank wall stress. The propagation laws of coupled blast wave overpressure from two sources in the air domain and their distribution patterns on tank walls subjected to the explosion surface are investigated. An overpressure loading model for tank walls exposed to the explosion surface is established to determine the failure point when the storage tank stress exceeds its ultimate tensile strength. The results show that the smaller the angle between the two sources of explosive loading, the larger the coupled peak overpressure on the center axis of the tank surface facing the explosion. The peak overpressure at the same height of the tank wall surface increases with the increase in angle α and then decreases. The peak overpressure at the same angle of the tank wall surface decreases from a height of 10 m above ground to both the upper and lower ends. At the same time in a single source of explosive loading and two sources of explosive loading, six types of load angle under the tank explosion surface radial maximum tensile and compressive stresses and clamping angle consistent with the case of the maximum stress is mainly concentrated in the tank roof − tank wall connection. The smaller the angle, the greater the energy absorption of the tank, the wall of the tank to meet the explosion surface damage increased and the first to fail, the tank by the shock wave absorbed and converted energy is mainly concentrated in the top part of the tank, resulting in the top part of the tank deformation is significant. Two sources of explosion scenarios in the tank only in the 180° angle load dynamic response process did not fail. Under the safe spacing design, single-row linear layout is relatively safe.