Abstract: By taking the propane spherical storage tank of a petrochemical enterprise as the research object, this paper fully takes into consideration the geometric integrity of the tank and the unevenness of wind load distribution at the ANSYS Workbench platform to conduct a fluid-solid coupling analysis. Firstly, a three-dimension numerical simulation of the external air flow field of the tank is performed to obtain the flow field distribution of the surrounding flow. Then, the calculation results of the flow filed are loaded on the outer surface of the tank to perform a structural static analysis. The results indicate that (1) when the wind flows around the spherical storage tank, the velocity first increases and then decreases, forming several vortexes on the leeward side of the spherical shell and the pillar, and the position of flow separation is delayed as the wind speed increases; (2) the wind forms a positive pressure zone on the windward side of the spherical storage tank and a negative pressure zone on the non-windward side; (3) the wind pressure on the windward side of the spherical shell symmetrically distributes in concentric circles, and gradually decreases from the center to the edge; and (4) the stress of the spherical storage tank under wind load is significantly larger than that under the design conditions. According to the results of stress linearization analysis and strength check, there comes to the conclusion that the spherical storage tank meets the standard requirements well. 

Key words: spherical storage tank, wind load, air flow field, numerical simulation, fluid-solid coupling analysis