Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences (JETEAS) 1 (1): 48-51 Scholarlink Research Institute Journals, 2010

0 Journal of Emerging Trends jeteas.scholarlinkresearch.orgin Engineering and Applied Sciences (JETEAS) 1 (1): 48-51

Geospatial Settlement Monitoring of Above Oil Storage Tank

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R. Ehigiator Irughe, 2Jacob Odeh Ehiorobo and O.M. Ehigiator3

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Siberian State Academy of Geodesy, Novosibirsk, Russia. Faculty of Engineering, University of Benin, Faculty of Engineering, Benin City. 3 Faculty of Basic Science, Benson- Idahosa University, Benin City, Nigeria. Corresponding Author: R. Ehigiator Irughe
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______________________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract Tanks used for storing crude oil in tank farms are usually cylindrical and made up of concrete foundation As a result of age, loading and off loading of crude oil from the tanks, geological condition of the site and other environmental factors, the foundation upon which these tanks are constructed are subjected to movement particularly settlement at the tank foundation. The safety of the tanks becomes of paramount importance as any catastrophic failure will adversely affect the environment. At the Forcados Tank Farm, there are ten tanks currently used for crude oil storage. In this study, only tank 209 was used as case study scenario for the Subsidence monitoring of the tanks foundation under loading. In order to monitor these tanks, studs were attached to the base of the tank at equal intervals. Measurement for subsidence was carried out on the studs position from primary Geodetic controls located within the tank farm in 2000, 2003 and 2004 respectively. The result of the study revealed that maximum subsidence of 20.39mm occurred at stud 12 and minimum of 5.49mm occurred in stud 1 for tank 209. A conclusion that the tank foundation is not stable. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Keywords: tank farm, bundwall, subsidence geodetic monitoring ______________________________________________________________________________________________ I TRODUCTIO Forcados Tank Farm The area features meandering Creeks and mangrove The aim of any monitoring project is to determine if there swamp Fig. I. The annual rainfall in this area ranges from is any movement taking place in the structure. There are 3,000mm to 3,900mm. Temperature ranges from ten storage tanks at the Forcados terminal whose normal 230c around July to between 350c around February and diameter is each 76.2m and height 21m with storage March. Tanks at the Forcados farm were constructed capacity of 500,000 bbl. (Ehigiator, 2005) between 1967 and 1970. There are ten crude oil tanks As a result of age, geological formation of the tank farm each 21m high and diameter 76.2m (Ehigiator, site, non uniform settlement of tank foundation, loading 2005). Others are two emulsion tanks, and continuous and off loading, temperature of the crude leading to stress hydration tanks. Storage tanks used by most oil and strain on tanks membrane, primary and secondary companies in Nigeria are cylindrical in shape, Oil settlement of sediments, the tanks tend to undergo radial production from Delta, Edo and Bayelsa State are deformation or out of roundness. delivered at the terminal and processed before being In addition shell out of roundness may result in gaps exported. between the tanks shell and subsequent hydrocarbon emission into the environment. As a safety measure, each tank is surrounded by a bund wall which measures 150m and at a height of about 12m. The aim of this large space is for the wall to accommodate oil spill in case of any displacement resulting from earth movements or spill from the tank. It is to be noted that certain terrain types are not at rest, but are slowly moving due to primary formation of sediment at the AKATA Formation (the marine environment where oil and gas are formed) and secondary settlement of sediment at the AGBADA formation (High temperature environment where oil and gas are trapped). As a result of the imperceptible but Figure. 1: Map showing location of Forcados terminal by the Bight of Benin, Nigeria

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Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences (JETEAS) 1 (1): 48-51 existent movements, the relative locations of points that are in such areas also change (Ehigiator, 2005) Monitoring of the tanks foundation will help in identifying and quantifying deterioration which may be caused by applied load, from various sources such as physical, chemical, climatic condition, soil types and proximity to the sea where the ground water level is very low (Ehigiator, 2010). The determination of settlement around the foundation is of importance especially when the rate of settlement is excessive or uneven (Ehigiator, 2010). For the subsidence monitoring precise levelling method is used (Ehiorobo, 2000) have shown that precise levelling method is much more accurate for evaluating vertical movement than for instance GPS method. Structural Monitoring Of Crude Oil Storage Tank Measurement of vertical movements was carried out by Periodic levelling using Geodetic levelling instrument with telescopic staves by 3 wires method at three different oil levels, that is, at 3m, 10m and 19m respectively. The tanks under study were monitored for year 200, 2003 and 2004. The Geodetic monitoring system consisted of a primary geodetic control network established in 1990 by an indigenous Survey company, Geodetic Positioning Services limited. In 2002 a more dense control network was established around the tanks for monitoring for subsidence under hydrostatic pressure within the tank farm, tank verticality, ovality and roof gap measurements were also based on the control points. For the monitoring purposes, studs were attached to the base of the tanks at equal interval. Additionally, three monitoring points were established around each tank in addition to the other bench marks within the bond walls. This arrangement is to allow for the detection of any movement of points within the bond wall and at a reasonable distance from the tank. Levelling to the studs were carried out in the mornings and evening periods of the day. This is to allow for the elimination of midday heat effects of the sun which is likely to cause uneven expansion of the tanks. Using the established geodetic control points, repeated levels and other measurements were carried out in 2000, 2003 and 2004 for the tanks. RESULT A ALYSIS LEVEL NET Software was used in the processing of the level network for each of the tanks monitored from epoch to epoch. The results for tank settlement monitoring for tanks 209 for year 2000, 2003 and 2004 at three-oil level are presented in the figures below.

2004 TANK 9 SUBSIDENCE

3.94 3.93 3.92 3.91 3.9 3.89 3.88 3.87 3.86 3.85 3.84
OIL LEVEL: 3.543m OIL LEVEL: 10.043m OIL LEVEL: 19.337m

Figure 1. The results for tank settlement monitoring for tanks 209 for year 2004 at three-oil level

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Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences (JETEAS) 1 (1): 48-51

O IL L E V E L : IL . L E 0 m L O 1 0 .L E V m L : 1 8 .3 3 1 m O 3 0 0 V E : IL 0 4 3 E S TU D 1 3.91075 3.89875 3 .8 8 7 2 5 S TU D 2 3.91627 3.90509 3 .8 9 2 6 1 S TU D 3 3.91025 3.89938 3 .8 8 7 5 9 S TU D 4 3.92152 3.90071 3 .8 9 8 2 2 S TU D 5 3.91038 3.88991 3 .8 8 7 4 1 S TU D 6 3.90413 3.88397 3 .8 8 1 0 9 S TU D 7 3.89827 3.88001 3 .8 7 7 4 9 S TU D 8 3.91063 3.89168 3 .8 8 6 6 4 S TU D 9 3.91827 3.89715 3 .8 9 4 8 8 S TU D 1 0 3.92010 3.89985 3 .8 9 3 6 3 S TU D 1 1 3.92532 3.90425 3 .8 9 9 1 1 S TU D 1 2 3.91513 3.90055 3 .8 9 6 9 5 S TU D 1 3 3.92365 3.90911 3 .8 9 7 2 6 S TU D 1 4 3.93365 3.91944 3 .9 0 5 9 1 S TU D 1 5 3.92635 3.91342 3 .9 0 2 1 0 S TU D 1 6 3.91846 3.90583 3 .8 9 3 8 8 S TU D 1 3.91075 3.89875 3 .8 8 7 2 5

2 0 0 3 T A N K 9 S U B S ID E N C E
3 .9 4 0 0 0 3 .9 3 0 0 0 3 .9 2 0 0 0 3 .9 1 0 0 0 3 .9 0 0 0 0 3 .8 9 0 0 0 3 .8 8 0 0 0 3 .8 7 0 0 0 3 .8 6 0 0 0 3 .8 5 0 0 0 3 .8 4 0 0 0

Figure 2. The results for tank settlement monitoring for tanks 209 for year 2003 at three-oil level

S TU D 1 S TU D 2 S TU D 3 S TU D 4 S TU D 5 S TU D 6 S TU D 7 S TU D 8 S TU D 9 S TU D 1 0 S TU D 1 1 S TU D 1 2 S TU D 13 O /L :3 .0 8 6 m 3917.6 3922.85 3 9 1 6 .5 7 3930.55 3919.98 3913.07 3907.36 3 9 2 2 .0 5 3926.21 3927.25 3931.38 3919.77 3927.33 O /L :1 1 .5 8 0 m 3 9 0 3 .8 1 3908.9 3903.9 3916.66 3905.69 3895.6 3894.29 3 9 1 0 .5 9 3915.42 3916.7 3920.17 3 9 0 7 .7 3916.69 O /L :2 0 .2 2 6 m 3 8 8 7 .5 6 3891.75 3 8 8 6 .9 1 3901.01 3890.53 3884.09 3882.37 3 8 9 0 .5 5 3898.25 3898.02 3903.56 3888.22 3897.89

2 0 0 0 T A N K 9 S U B S ID E N C E
3950 3940 3930 3920 3910 3900 3890 3880 3870 3860 3850

A p p e n d ix 7 A

Figure. 3 The results for tank settlement monitoring for tanks 209 for year 2000 at three-oil level

DISCUSSIO S A D RESULTS The results from subsidence monitoring for Tank 209 in 2000, 2003 and 2004 show that the largest settlement occurred at stud 12 between the period with a value of 14.57mm between 2000 and 2003 and 16.43mm between 2003 and 2004. The lowest subsidence occurred at Stud 1 between 2003 and 2004 with a value of 5.39mm. In all areas the rate of subsidence was fairly evenly spread around the tank for the period of investigations. There appear to be an uneven movement of the ground below this tank. The results are however within an acceptable limit hence the tank cannot be said to be at risk. Further investigations are however ongoing to access the stability of the ground below this tank.

CO CLUSIO S Monitoring of tanks and tanks foundation helps in identifying and quantifying deteriorations which may lead to tank failure. The history of tank disaster throughout the world reveals that problems often arise undetected due to inaccurate evaluation of foundation defects. For any tank monitoring programme to be effective, the equipment used for the monitoring must be precise and of the highest quality. The monitoring personnel must be experienced in not only data capture but also the analysis of the acquired data. In carrying out monitoring for subsidence at the tank base at the forcado tank farm, any noticeable difference or settlement in excess of 5cm means that such a tank should be put out of use. Measurements carried out for

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Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences (JETEAS) 1 (1): 48-51 tank 209 however reveal no abnormal ground subsidence at the base of the tanks. REFERE CES Ehigiator, Irugbe R. 2005. Environmental safety and monitoring of crude oil storage tanks at the Forcados terminal. M. Eng Thesis, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Benin, Benin City. Ehigiator et al., 2010. Structural deformation analysis of cylindrical oil storage tank using geodetic observations. Geo -Siberia International Exhibition and scientific conference, Novosibrisk Russia Federation. 15-22. Ehigiator et al., 2010. Determination of the ovality of crude oil storage tanks using least square. Advanced materials research. A TransTech series, Switzerland. 3440. Ehiorobo O. J. 2000. 3D Control Baseline for Deformation studies of the Ikpoba Dam Journal of Engineering Sciences and Application Vol. 2. 68 87. Ehiorobo O. J. 2000. Evaluation of Geodetic heights for Monitoring for subsidence at the Ikpoba River Dam .Journal of Engineering Sciences and Application Vol. 4. 8 21. Kassar M and Becker J.M. 1999. Error source in high precision levelling How to minimize their effects on heights, FIG Commission 5, March 15-17 Gavle Sweden

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