Vulnerability of Fuel Storage Tanks to Nuclear Blast; Response and Scaling of Floating Roof Tanks

摘要

The vulnerability of bulk fuel storage is of major concern in the survival of Air Force weapon systems subject to nuclear attacks. The vulnerability of three types of storage tanks is of interest; the underground tank, the floating roof tank with strengthened shell and the ordinary cone roof tank. The floating roof, particularly if placed in a hard shell, presents some obviously interesting characteristics from the point of view of vulnerability. It is capable of withstanding significantly large pressures if the pressures are uniformly distributed. But, if the pressures are nonuniformly distributed and also vary with time, such as those produced by a nuclear blast wave, the floating roof will be displaced and the dynamic response of the liquid under the floating roof will determine the vulnerability of the roof and the contents of the tank. A thorough understanding of these dynamic conditions is necessary before the potential resistance of floating roof tanks can be evaluated or before actual tests can be profitably undertaken.