Thermal Buckling Behaviors of a Fixed-Roof Steel Tank Subjected to Two Adjacent Pool Fires

In a tank farm, even if the separation distance meets the codes and standards, a pool fire in one tank may spread quickly to another tank. Most destructive and uncontrollable fire accidents are induced with multiple pool fires. In current work, the thermal buckling behaviors of a fixed-roof tank subjected to one (two) neighboring pool fire(s) (burning tanks) are numerically studied. The effects of the number of the pool fires, the separation distance between two pool fires, and the distance between the adjacent tank and pool fires are analyzed. The results indicate that the thermal buckling zone of the target tank subjected to two pool fires is larger than that subjected to one pool fire, and the maximum displacement for two pool fires is almost equal to that for one pool fire. The target tank subjected to one pool fire loses stability and reaches a new stable state faster than that subjected to two pool fires. The thermal buckling zone expands as the distance between the two pool fires increases but decreases with increasing separation distance between the pool fire and the target tank. The findings provide useful guidance for the structural optimization of steel storage tanks against pool fire exposure and offer theoretical support for emergency response and fire rescue in tank farms.