Development of Equations for Static Design Loads of Sphere Type LNG Tank with Cylindrical Extension

Abstract

The number of shop needed for the fabrication of sphere type LNG tank is proportional to that of the tank radius to be constructed. Due to limitation of facility investment including building sites, it is practically difficult to fabricate various size tanks of perfectly spherical shape in the yards. The efficient method to increase cargo tank capacity is to extend vertically the conventional sphere type LNG tank by inserting a cylindrical shell structure. In this study, equations for static design loads are developed for sphere type LNG tank with central extension. The results of this study will be combined with dynamic design loads to build the simplified analysis method which enable the precise initial estimate instead of time consuming finite element analysis.