Water Tank Damage Due To the Great East Japan Earthquake and Its Relationship With Strong Ground Motion in Vast Areas

Abstract eng:
The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake caused severe damage to on-ground and elevated water tanks in broad areas. First the authors conducted a detailed survey on the damage of water tanks in the areas mainly affected by the earthquake. Through the survey, 167 damage data concerning rectangular water tanks were obtained, and the characteristics of the damage are discussed. Next the authors compare the damage locations with the contour maps of the response spectra obtained from the strong ground motion records at 1,249 stations. The results show that the characteristics of the damage can be well explained from the viewpoint of the bulging damege by short-period responses and the sloshing damege by longer-period responses to the earthquake respectively. Finally, by comparing with the response spectra from the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, on which the current design codes of water tanks have been based, the authors consider the current design codes. These results will be useful for discussing the countermeasures against the vulnerability of water tanks hereafter.

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