Rectangular Tank

Design
Basic approach and practical tips
S.Thirucheeswaran

CONTENTS
Introduction
Main Acceptance Criteria
Symbols and Units
Nomenclature
List of parts or sections to be designed or checked
Additional Check required for the whole tank and anchoring
Design Input and Conditions
General Notes and assumptions
Types of Rectangular Tanks (Classification for design approach)
Top plate for Rectangular Tank
Bottom plate and Base Frame for Rectangular Tank
Additional points for advanced design (Future)
Practical tips
Summary - Rectangular tank types and design references
References
Attachments

Rectangular tank design

Introduction

Guidelines and step-by-step design procedure is given below for rectangular

tanks and assumptions are made for a conservative design. The design
procedure is an iterative process or checking for given or assumed
thickness, stiffener size and stiffener spacing.
Alternatively, rigorous analysis using FEM or suitable structural design
procedure can be followed.

Rectangular tank design

Main Acceptance Criteria

1) Calculated Stress shall be limited to ASME Code Allowable Stress [or]
Actual corroded thickness provided shall not be less than required
corroded plate thickness calculated using ASME Code Allowable Stress
2) Maximum deflection limited to one half of the corroded plate thickness

Symbols and Units: Kanti K Mahajan [unless specified]

Rectangular tank design

Nomenclature
TOP EDGE STIFFENER
R1 Unit Load (Uniform on entire
span of top edge stiffener)

HORIZONTAL STIIFENER

VERTICAL STIFFENER

R2 Unit Load (Uniform on entire span of intermediate stiffener)

l - distance between vertical stiffeners (important parameter

for shell plate thickness design)
L length of tank (important parameter for top edge stiffener
design)

Rectangular tank design

Nomenclature (continued)

Primary Stiffener

Secondary Stiffener

Rectangular tank design

Nomenclature (continued)
Load on VERTICAL STIFFENERS: UNIFORMLY INCREASING
Load on SHELL (SIDE VERTICAL PLATE) : UNIFORMLY INCREASING

Load on HORIZONTAL STIFFENERS: UNIFORM ON ENTIR SPAN

Load on TOP/BOTTOM PLATE (HORIZONTAL) : UNIFORM ON ENTIR SPAN

Rectangular tank design

List of parts or sections to be designed or checked:

Shell (side plate): Thickness, stiffeners (size and spacing), weld size
Top plate: Thickness, stiffeners (size and spacing), weld size
Bottom plate: Thickness, stiffeners (size and spacing), weld size
Base frame member sizing, weld size, supporting points
Lifting lugs and other attachments

Additional Check for the whole tank and anchoring

Check total tank for wind/seismic/wave/transportation etc.
including anchor design.

Rectangular tank design

Design Input and Conditions

Tank size: Width x Height x Length, normally inside dimensions
Internal pressure, if any
Material / maximum allowable stress values
Wind loads, seismic loads, wave loads, transportation loads etc.
Calculate maximum pressure against side wall due to weight of
contents (p= 0.433 H s (in psi))

Rectangular tank design

General Notes and assumptions:

Design is based on open top basis, which is conservative. The effect of top plate is not
considered
If top edge stiffener of sufficient size is provided, top side of shell plate can be considered as
supported on all 4 edges
Consider either vertical stiffeners or horizontal stiffeners as primary or main stiffeners and let
us call, other one secondary stiffeners, that are perpendicular to preliminary stiffeners
Selection of primary stiffeners (vertical or horizontal) is based on tank size and dimensions
Secondary stiffeners are considered to reduce plate thickness required and to transfer load to
main stiffeners
There is no simple formula or procedure to analysis or design rectangular tank with both
horizontal and vertical stiffeners
All stiffeners shall be continuous and welded at corners
Shell plate welds shall be full penetration
Tank design can be optimized on total weight or plate thickness and/or stiffener size
Tank plate thickness shall be at least 3/16" (5mm) + corrosion allowance
Suitable corrosion allowance shall be considered
Use appropriate and consistent units
Do not combine both vertical stiffeners and horizontal stiffeners at the same time
If very large tank, consider internal tie-rods. Internal baffles, if any, can be considered as
stiffeners. This will reduce tank plate thickness/weight.

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10

Types of Rectangular Tanks

Let us classify the rectangular tanks into 9 types based on stiffeners
arrangement and design procedure.
Types 1 to 4 are simple in construction and design procedures are
also simple. Reference [1] or reference [2] can be used directly for
design of type 1 to 4 tanks.
The references [1] & [2] do not give direct procedures for type 5 to 8.
Hence design approaches for types 5 to 8 are explained below. Type
7 tanks can be designed using reference [6]. Type 9 Tank is designed
with Tie-rods and reference [1] gives a procedure.
Design of rectangular tank shell plate (side vertical plate) is critical
and procedures are given below. Design procedures for top plate,
bottom plate, bottom frame etc. are explained separately. Refer to
sketch showing different types of tanks with stiffener arrangement
commonly used.

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Types of Rectangular Tanks (Type-1 to 4)

(Classification for design approach)

Type-1

Type-3

Type-2

Type-4

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Types of Rectangular Tanks (Type - 5 to 8)

(Classification for design approach)

Type-5
Type-5

Type-1
Type-6

Type-1
Type-7

Type-1
Type-8

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Types of Rectangular Tanks (Type - 9)

(Classification for design approach)

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Other Types of Rectangular Tanks

(Not discussed here)

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Type-1: Open top tank without any stiffeners

Shell Plate: Calculate required thickness (tr) and maximum
deflection (ymax)
Use Roarks Case 2(d), 3 edges simply supported and 1 edge free,
subjected to hydro-static pressure uniformly increasing (zero at top to
maximum pressure at bottom)
Required thickness t r = SQRT (pb/Sa), but not less than 3/16
Y max = p b^4 / (E ta^3), limited to (ta/2)
Acceptance criteria (stress and deflection)

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Type-2: Tank with Top Edge Stiffener and/or with top plate
If top edge stiffener of sufficient size is provided or top plate is welded to shell
plates with or without top edge stiffener, all 4 edges may be considered as
supported for shell plate design and Roarks Case 1 (e) can be used to
calculate required shell plate thickness (tr) and maximum deflection (Ymax).
Acceptance criteria shall be stress and deflection.
Calculate uniform load on entire span (R1) acting on the top edge stiffener.
Consider top edge stiffener as a beam fixed both ends
Top edge stiffener Imin=R1 b^4 /192 E ta and select stiffener with I
more than I min calculated, however the stiffener angle shall not be less
than 2.5 x 2.5 x 0.25
Recalculate shell plate thickness, deflection Roarks Case 1(d). Select
thickness (ta)
Recheck top edge stiffener sizing (step-2.2)

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TYPE-3: Tank with Top Edge Stiffener and one

horizontal stiffener
Calculate uniform load on entire span of top edge stiffener R1 &
horizontal stiffener R2

Calculate moment of Inertia required for stiffeners and select stiffener size
Recalculate shell plate thickness, deflection Roarks Case 1(d). Select
thickness (ta)

Recheck stiffener sizing for latest plate thickness selected

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TYPE-4: Tank with Top Edge Stiffener and one or more

vertical stiffeners
Calculate R1 and size top edge stiffener. Use length of tank L as
stiffener length [Do not use stiffener spacing l as length of stiffener]

Calculate moment of Inertia required for stiffener and select stiffener.

Use height of tank as vertical stiffener length and uniformly increasing
loading on the vertical stiffener

Recalculate shell plate thickness, deflection Roarks Case 1(d). Select

thickness (ta)

Recheck stiffener sizing for latest plate thickness selected

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TYPE-5: Top Tank with Top Edge Stiffener, one

horizontal primary stiffener and one or more vertical
secondary stiffener
Same as type-3 and calculate secondary vertical stiffener size
considering uniformly increasing load both ends fixed (Roarks
case 2(d) Table-8; Wa = 0 & Wl = p). Alternatively, use same size as
primary horizontal stiffener without calculation

Rectangular tank design

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TYPE-6: Tank with Top Edge Stiffener, one or more

vertical primary stiffeners and one or more horizontal
secondary stiffener
Same as type-4 and calculate secondary horizontal stiffener size
considering uniform load on entire span both ends fixed (Roarks
case 2(d) Table-8; Wa=Wl). Alternatively, use same size as primary
horizontal stiffener without any calculation

Rectangular tank design

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TYPE-7: Top Tank with Top Edge Stiffener and 2 or more

horizontal stiffeners
Similar to type-3, however the loads on horizontal stiffeners are
calculated using reference [6].

Calculate load (uniform load on entire span) on each stiffener R1, R2,
R3 etc. Refer Attachment for sample calculation.

Calculate moment of Inertia required for each stiffener, select stiffener

Recheck plate thickness & deflection Roarks Case 1(d). Select
thickness (ta)

Recheck stiffener sizing for latest plate thickness selected

Rectangular tank design

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TYPE-8: Tank with Top Edge Stiffener, 2 or more

horizontal primary stiffeners and one or more vertical
secondary stiffener
Same as Type-7 and calculate secondary vertical stiffener
considering uniformly increasing load both ends fixed (Roarks
case 2(d) Table-8). Alternatively, use same size as primary stiffener
without calculation.

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TYPE-9 Open Top Tank with Tie-rod supports

(For very large rectangular tanks, internal tie-rods can
be considered to reduce plate and stiffener size and
weight, if permitted for service or process requirements.
Internal baffles or partition plates can be considered as
tie rods/stiffeners)

Rectangular tank design

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Top plate for Rectangular Tank

(common for all types of tanks)
Design top plate, if applicable, [4 edges simply supported, uniform
load over entire plate - Roarks Case 1 (a)] Loads to be considered
self weight, maintenance load, snow load etc. Use 2000 kg/m2, as a
default uniformly distributed load on entire surface of top plate and
add internal pressure if any.
Provide stiffener for top plate by connecting all vertical stiffeners,
as a default. This is mainly required for transfer of load from
vertical stiffener, unless special stiffener arrangement is designed.
Check bottom plate thickness for maximum un-stiffened area

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Bottom plate and Base Frame for Rectangular Tank

(common for all types of tanks)
Provide base frame covering all 4 sides of the tank
Consider simply supported both ends for sizing the long side frame member and load
half of the maximum design weight UDL (uniformly distributed along the entire length),
provide same size for short side (no calculation is required for short side-conservative)

Provide stiffeners for tank bottom plate (connecting long side members of base frame)
load may be calculated (W = p x spacing) kg/mm (uniformly distributed load/unit length).
Stiffener size can be of smaller than outer base frame member size

If required, provide additional stiffeners in perpendicular direction (smaller in size than

outer base frame member size) in order to reduce the bottom plate thickness.

Check bottom plate thickness for maximum un-stiffened area - Roark case 1(a) Table-26
Minimum thickness shall be 0.25 (6 mm) plus corrosion allowance, if entire surface of
the bottom plate is supported.

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Base Frame (common for all types of tanks)

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Additional points for advanced design (Future)

Combined effect of plate and stiffeners (limits 10 times plate thickness)
Selection of primary stiffeners (vertical or horizontal) based on tank size and
dimensions, relation between tank length-L and Height-H
Bolted rectangular tanks, bolted top plate
Consideration of design pressure, usually a small pressure like 0.05 bar
Loading: seismic, transportation, wave etc.
Top plate loading 2000 kg/sq.m
Nozzle loading
Lifting lugs, lifting analysis
Spacing of horizontal stiffeners (unequal, increasing spacing from bottom to top)
Weight estimation, optimization of weight, plate thickness, stiffener size/spacing etc.
Types of loading UDL, uniformly increasing loading
Welding of stiffeners to plate and end connections; Welding of plates

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Practical tips
Preferred type of welded joints (corner weld joining shell plates)
Stiffener arrangements
Do not extrapolate the design procedure of one type to other type
without proper consideration

Un-stiffened tanks may not be larger than 30 ft3 (0.85 m3)

Un-stiffened tank size (any side) may not exceed 3 ft (0.9 m)
For using Roarks formula 2(d) in table 8 (both ends fixed), the tank
shall have adequate stiffeners and all tank corners shall have
stiffener/framed structure. Stiffeners shall be continuous and
interconnected at the ends

Do not use Roarks formula 8(d) in table 11 (rectangular tank fixed all
edges, uniformly decreasing load parallel to side b), unless stiffeners
and frame are very rigid

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Practical tips (continued)

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Rectangular tank design

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Practical tips (continued)

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Summary - Rectangular tank types and design references

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References:
1. Eugene F.Megyesy, Pressure Vessel Handbook, Pressure Vessel

Publishing Inc., 12th Edition 2001 (Check for latest edition)

2. Kanti K Mahajan, Design of Process Equipment, Pressure Vessel
Handbook Publishing, Inc. Third Edition 1990 (Check for latest
edition)
3. Kanti K Mahajan, A method for designing rectangular storage
tanks, Chemical Engineering, March 28, 1977 pp 107-112
4. Warren C. Young, Richard G. Budynas. Roarks Formulas for
Stress & Strain, 7th Edition
5. Omer W. Blodgett, Design of welded Structures, The James
F.Lincln Arc Welding Foundation, Fifteenth Printing March-1996
6. M.Starczewski, Non-Circular Pressure Vessels Some guidance
notes for designers, British Engine Technical Report 1981 Volume
XIV pp 62-88
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Rectangular tank design

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