Study of Strength Properties of the Designed Tank for Marine Transportation of Liquefied Natural Gas in the Arctic Conditions

Abstract

Liquefied natural gas is one of the environmentally friendly alternative fuels, and there are various ways to transport it. Despite the high cost of the production of transportation vessels, it is marine transportation that is most common in harsh arctic conditions. The article proposes the design of the carrier tank, which consists of spherical and cylindrical parts with elliptical bottom and bunker. Equatorial belt and support element are used as a mechanism to attach the tank to the ship's hull, but it can be with different configuration, e.g., in the form of skirt or set of struts. Based on numerical simulation results, conclusions are made that the second option of reinforcement is preferable as it is 44% less in weight while providing the required carrying capacity, which can be an advantage when using several tanks on one ship. The tank design under consideration is not subject to the "sloshing" effect and has an increased capacity by 11.5% compared with the fully spherical design.