Stress test and finite element analysis of a 10×104 m3 crude oil tank

The large crude oil storage tank with a capacity of 10×10⁴ m³ has been widely used in China currently. In order to obtain the stress distribution in the wall board, bottom board, big fillet weld and manhole, and to verify the rationality of tank design, a stress test which combining the method of static resistance strain test (SRST) and optical fiber strain test (OFST) is conducted during water filling test for the tank. Software ANSYS is employed to construct a three-dimensional (3d) space finite element model under hydraulic test loading. And then theoretically calculated and measured values are compared and a good agreement between them is achieved.