We design vertical supported vessels and I'm interested tosee if how others would model leg forces (static, water filledweight) including force translation to repad and shell given a twoconsiderations. 1) Application of the mass load using symmetry -how much of the cylindrical shell is required to adequatelyrepresent translation of the mass load from COG to the shell to theleg. 2) Reaction of the leg to some structural steel (W-beam) vsinfinitely stiff restraint of the pad vs other restraint options.

After some trial and error, it is obvious that a wide range ofresults are possible depending upon application of load andstiffness of the restraint. Any advice regarding would be muchappreciated, I've attached a sample sketch of our geometry forclarity. If others are interested I could post more picts includingest. results as I converge to anticipated solution.

Ben
SolidworksSimulation