AWWA D103 Bolted Tank Shell & Joint Design Calculator

AWWA D103 Bolted Tank Shell & Joint Design

Bolted shell plate thickness, compressive stress, and joint design for factory-coated bolted carbon steel tanks (ANSI/AWWA D103-09, §5.4–5.5)

◉ ANSI/AWWA D103-09 §5.4–5.5 STYLE CHECK · NOT A REGULATORY SUBMISSION TOOL

⚠ Indicative tool only, and the first bolted-construction methodology in this project. Every welded-tank standard built so far (API 650, IS 803, EN 14015) assumes welded shell joints; this is a structurally different design basis built around net-section reduction at bolt holes. Verified directly against this edition's page images. AWWA D103 is written for water storage, but bolted tank construction is also used for petroleum and other bulk liquid storage.

Identification

Company

Tank ID

Location

Record Type

Research entries stay private to you for practice/testing. Switch to Official once this is a real design your company should see.

Shell Plate Thickness — Net Tensile Stress Governs (§5.4.1, Eq 5-1)

H — Liquid Height, TCL to Bottom of Course ft

D — Tank Diameter ft

S — Bolt Spacing, Perpendicular to Stress in

G — Specific Gravity of Liquid

f_t — Allowable Tensile Stress psi

d — Bolt-Hole Diameter in

t = 2.6HDSG / [f_t(S−d)]. Hydrostatic pressure at the lower edge of each shell ring is assumed to act undiminished over the entire ring.

Result

Required shell plate thickness t—

Allowable Compressive Stress — Wind/Seismic + Dead Load (§5.4.2, Eq 5-2)

t — Shell Thickness in

R — Shell Radius in

f_s = 15,000[⅔][100t/R]×[2−[⅔][100t/R]] ≤ 15,000 psi.

Result

Allowable compressive stress f_s—

Bolted Joint Design (§5.5.1–.4)

d — Bolt Diameter in

P — Force Transmitted by Bolt lb

F_y — Minimum Yield Strength psi

t — Thickness of Thinner Sheet in Joint in

Minimum spacing: center-to-center ≥ 2d, edge-to-center ≥ 1.5d, AND both ≥ P/(0.6F_yt) (Eq 5-3). Multiple bolt lines: effective net section ≤85% of gross area (§5.5.2).

Result

Minimum center-to-center spacing (2d)—

Minimum edge distance (1.5d)—

Minimum spacing from force (Eq 5-3)—

Allowable Tensile Stress on Net Section (§5.5.3, Eq 5-4/5-5)

r — Bolt Force Ratio (0 if <0.2)

s — Bolt Spacing, Perpendicular to Stress in

F_u — Minimum Ultimate Strength psi

Uses d and F_y from the joint design card above. Governing allowable tensile stress is the lesser of Eq 5-4 and Eq 5-5 — use this as f_t in the shell thickness card.

Result

Eq 5-4: 0.6F_y(1.0−0.9r+3rd/s), capped at 0.6F_y—

Eq 5-5: 0.40F_u—

Governing allowable tensile stress (lesser)—

Hole Bearing Stress (§5.5.4)

Uses d, F_y, and t from the joint design card above. Hole bearing stress on area d×t shall not exceed 1.35F_y.

Result

Bearing area (d×t)—

Allowable bearing limit (1.35F_y)—

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