Abstract: Foundation settlement often leads to large deformation of the tank wall, which seriously affects the safe operation of the tank. In order to study the deformation response state of crude oil storage tanks under harmonic settlement, a numerical simulation model of large crude oil storage tanks under harmonic settlement was established with the finite element analysis software ABAQUS. The model, considering the effect of the foundation comprehensively, is capable of accurately simulating the true service state of the storage tanks. In addition, the influence law of wall diameter-thickness ratio, height-diameter ratio, harmonic number, harmonic amplitude and liquid level of the tanks on the radial deformation of the tank wall was studied quantitatively based on the established numerical simulation model. The results indicate that, the wall diameter-thickness ratio and the liquid level of the tanks have little effect on the radial deformation on top of the tank wall, which can be ignored from the perspective of engineering. Besides, the radial deformation on top of the tank wall increases approximately linearly with the increase of the height-diameter ratio of the tank wall and the harmonic amplitude. Moreover, the radial deformation of the tank wall increases at first and then decreases as the harmonic number increases.