Remaining service time prediction for corroded shell of a steel tank used for liquid petroleum fuels storage

Abstract

A numerical example allowing for effective forecasting of the remaining service time for corroded steel shell of a tank used to store liquid petroleum fuels is presented. This time is interpreted here as a period of time counted from the moment of an obligatory tank shell inspection to the moment of the anticipated shell failure understood as the loss of the capacity to safely resist the loads applied to it. Reaching the limit value of failure probability, i.e. the highest probability of failure acceptable to the tank user, is in this approach a determinant of such failure. The detailed considerations pertain to a typical on-the-ground storage tank equipped with a floating roof, located in one of fuel depots in the south of Poland. The forecast has been prepared based on measurements of the random thickness of tank shell weakened by corrosion and measured after 27 years of service time. In the recommended analysis fully probabilistic computational procedures have been applied. This led to a more credible and less conservative service time assessment than the one usually determined via the traditional standard approach. For comparative purposes qualitatively different but formally corresponding safety measures have been applied to describe the obtained results.