Research on Settlement Monitoring of Large Storage Tank Water Filling Preloading Foundation

This article focuses on the monitoring requirements for foundation settlement during the water injection loading process of large-volume storage tanks, conducting a comparative experimental study between manual observation and automated monitoring using static level gauges. During the continuous 12-day water injection loading process (divided into five stages), settlement data were synchronously obtained using both monitoring methods. The research results indicate that during the water injection process, foundation settlement exhibits a three-stage response characteristic. In the initial stage (water injection volume of 0.1H~0.5H), pore water pressure dissipation leads to global settlement, with a decrease of approximately -1 mm~-7 mm, reflecting rapid consolidation deformation of the foundation soil. In the intermediate stage (water injection volume of 0.5H~0.75H), settlement tends to stabilize (<1 mm/d), but local abnormal points (JC3 and JC5) continue to settle, indicating uneven distribution of pile foundation bearing capacity. In the final stage (water injection volume reaches the upper limit of H), secondary overall settlement occurs, with a cumulative settlement of -5 mm~-14 mm, indicating that the increase in load triggers deep consolidation of the foundation. The maximum settlement difference between different measuring points is 9mm. At measuring points JC5~JC8, the average deviation between static level gauge monitoring data and manual observation values is ±2mm, showing good consistency. This indicates that the automated system can replace traditional manual methods, enhancing monitoring efficiency and accuracy. The expanded differences between manual and automated monitoring at JC1~JC4 reveal significant interference from ambient temperature on static level gauge measurements, necessitating the development of a temperature compensation model to improve the accuracy of all-weather automated monitoring using static level gauges. The research findings provide theoretical basis and technical support for optimizing the safety monitoring system of storage tank engineering.