Damping Effect of Reinforced Polyurethane Foam under Various Temperatures

Abstract

Reinforced polyurethane foam (RPUF) is one of the important materials of Mark III type insulation systems used in liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo containment systems. However, RPUF is the most difficult material to use with regard to its safety assessment, because there is little public and reliable data on its mechanical properties, and even some public data show relatively large differences. In this study, to investigate the structural response of the system under compressive loads such as sloshing action, time-dependent characteristics of RPUF were examined. A series of compressive load tests of the insulation system including RPUF under various temperature conditions was carried out using specimens with rectangular section. As a result, the relationship between deformation of RPUF and time is linear and dependent on the loading rate, so the concept of strain rate could be applied to the analysis of the insulation system. Also, we found that the spring constant tends to converge to a value as the loading rate increases and that the convergence level is dependent on temperature.