Experimental and numerical studies on the impact resistance of large-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage outer tank against the accidental missile

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Regarding the disastrous consequences when the dome or cylindric wall of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) was damaged, the large-scale LNG storage tank should be designed to resist the potential impact loadings, e.g., turbine and wind-borne missiles. This paper aims to study the impact resistance of large-scale LNG storage outer tank subjected to the accidental low-velocity and large weight missile experimentally and numerically. Firstly, the reinforced concrete/steel liner (RC/steel) composite targets designed according to the dome of LNG storage tank were fabricated. Fifteen free dropping tests of rigid impactor on the RC/steel targets were conducted, in which the mass of the impactor were 500 kg, 800 kg and 1100 kg, and the corresponding impacting velocities were ranged from 14 m/s to 26.19 m/s, respectively. The local damage and failure modes of RC/steel target panels under large caliber hard projectile impact are assessed experimentally. Then, the commercial finite element (FE) program LS-DYNA was utilized to perform the corresponding numerical simulations, the numerical algorithm, constitutive models and the corresponding parameters are validated by comparing with the test data. Finally, the impact resistance of the prototype of Chinese Dalian large LNG storage outer tank subjected to the accidental impact of missiles specified by British standard BS 7777 and United States regulatory guide U.S. 1.76 are evaluated numerically. The present work and conclusions can provide helpful references for the design and impact resistance evaluation of large-scale LNG storage tank subjected to the accidental missile.