Shake table testing of an open rectangular water tank with water sloshing

Liquid storage tanks are widely used structures in industry. Their safety during an earthquake is important because damage to or the collapse of these structures can cause substantial material damage and human losses. In this paper, the behaviour of small-scale open rectangular water tanks with water sloshing during dynamic excitation was experimentally investigated. The effects of several parameters were studied using a shake table (tank wall stiffness; tank water level; dynamic excitation type; and period, amplitude and duration of the harmonic ground excitation). The most important conclusions of the investigated effects are presented. It is expected that the experimental database can be useful for the verification and calibration of numerical models used to simulation liquid-structure coupled problems.