Design of rectangular tank

1

Tank dimension height 2850mm and width 2850mm. SS 304 plate of thickness 4mm is provided by
the client with 2 no of 75x6mm horizontal and vertical stiffeners equispaced as shown below
Fig-1

Case-1
The required thickness of the plate tr was found to be 6.48mm but the plate deflection obtained was
10mm which is much greater than tr/2(please refer case-2 for detailed calculation). Minimum 10mm
plate was required to hold the deflection within limits. Much reduced thickness can be obtained
with the addition of more stiffeners.
Case-2
Addition of 3 Nos of horizontal and vertical stiffeners equispaced
Design data
Table-A
1 Pressure P (psi) 4.3
2 Temperature T (C) 20
3 MOC A240 TP 304L
4 Allowable stress @ T Smax(psi) 16675
5 Required plate thickness tr See table-B
6 Provided plate thickness Ta,mm(inch) 6(0.23)
7 Modulus of elasticity E(psi) 30x10^6
Design of rectangular tank
2

8 Max plate deflection Ymax

Fig-2












Table-B
1 a(inch) 28
2 b(inch) 28
3 a/b 1
4 0.022
5 0.16
6

4.56mm(0.18)
7

1.6mm(0.06) Ymax < tr. Safe
Design of rectangular tank
3

Stiffener sizing
Table-C
1 Pressure 4.3psi
2 Specific gravity 1.02
3 Liquid load on plate 56000lb
4 Load per unit height 400lb/in

Fig-3

But the load is assumed to be uniformly distributed along the tank wall. The reaction force along the
tank wall is maximum at R4
Table-D
1 R1 0.4wl 160lb/in
2 R2 1.14wl 456lb/in
3 R3 0.92wl 368lb/in
4 R4 1.14wl 456lb/in
5 R5 0.4wl 160lb/in

Design of rectangular tank
4

1 Min moment of inertia
required

0.15 in^4

2 Moment of inertia
provided
Bd^3/12 0.54 in^4