Consistent thermal analysis procedure of LNG storage tank

Abstract

As the LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) tank contains cryogenic liquid, realistic thermal analyses are of a primary importance for a successful design. The structural details of the LNG tank are so complicated that some strategies are necessary to reasonably predict its temperature distribution. The proposed heat transfer model can consider the beneficial effects of insulation layers and a suspended deck on temperature distribution of the outer concrete tank against cryogenic conditions simply by the boundary conditions of the outer tank model. To this aim, the equilibrium condition or heat balance in a steady state is utilized in a various way, and some aspects of heat transfer via conduction, convection and radiation are implemented as necessary. Overall thermal analysis procedures for the LNG tank are revisited to examine some unjustifiable assumptions of conventional analyses. Concrete and insulation properties under cryogenic condition and a reasonable conversion procedure of the temperature-induced nonlinear stress into the section forces are discussed. Numerical examples are presented to verify the proposed schemes in predicting the actual temperature and stress distributions of the tank as affected by the cryogenic LNG for the cases of normal operation and leakage from the inner steel tank. It is expected that the proposed schemes enable a designer to readily detect the effects of insulation layers and a suspended deck and, therefore, can be employed as a useful and consistent tool to evaluate the thermal effect in a design stage of an LNG tank as well as in a detailed analysis.