• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.543-551
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• 2015

Polyurethane Foam(PUF), a outstanding thermal insulation material, is used for various structures as being composed with other materials. These days, PUF composed with glass fiber, Reinforced PUF(R-PUF), is used for a insulation system of LNG Carrier and performs function of not only the thermal insulation but also a structural member for compressive loads like a sloshing load. As PUF is a porous material made by mixing and foaming, mechanical properties depend on volume fraction of voids which is a dominant parameter on density. Thus, In this study, density is considered as the effect parameter on mechanical properties of Polyurethane Foam, and mechanical behavior for compression of the material is described by using modified Gurson damage model.

• Composites Research
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.122-127
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• 2018

Sandwich composites of carbon fiber reinforced plastic(CFRP) and polymer foam will be used to automobile and aerospace industry according to increasing importance of light weight. In this study, mechanical and heat resistance properties of sandwich composites were compared with type of polymer foam (polyethylene terephthalate(PET), polyvinylchloride(PVC), epoxy and polyurethane). All types of polymer foams were degraded to 30, 60, 120, 180 minutes in $180^{\circ}C$. After heat degradation, the polymer foams were observed using optical microscope and compressive test was performed using universal testing machine(UTM). Epoxy foam had the highest compressive property to 2.6 MPa and after thermal degradation, the mechanical property and structure of foam were less changed than others. Epoxy foam had better mechanical properties than other polymer foams under high temperature. Because the epoxy foam was post cured under high temperature. As the results, Epoxy foam was optimal materials to apply to structures that thermal energy was loaded constantly.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.74-79
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• 2013

In the context of the structural performance of an LNG hold, the mechanical characteristics of the insulation material are considered to be a critical design factor under cryogenic temperatures. This paper presents the thermal elasto-plastic behavior of the reinforced polyurethane foam (RPUF) adapted for the insulation material of a membrane-type LNG carrier via both experiments and numerical simulations realizing the cryogenic condition. The experiments are carried out to investigate the thermal transfer and thermal elasto-plastic deformation characteristics of an actual RPUF specimen. The heat transfer simulations based on the finite element method (FEM) include a forced convection analysis. The results of heat transfer analyses are compared with the experimental results. Reasonable cryogenic conditions for RPUF are reviewed based on both the analysis and experimental results.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.495-502
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• 2014

Glass-reinforced polyurethane foam (R-PUF) is widely used as the primary and secondary insulation of Mark-III type liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo system. And, polyurethane foam (PUF) and polyisocyanurate foam (PIR) are often used for insulation of onshore structures or LNG storage and pipeline system. These polymeric foam materials are known for the characteristics that mechanical properties are dependent on strain rate and temperature. In this study, compression tests for R-PUF, PIR, and PUF were carried out for the estimation of mechanical behaviors under the cryogenic environment. The range of thermal condition was from room temperature to 110K and strain rates were $10^{-3}s^{-1}$ and $10^{-4}s^{-1}$. The test results were analyzed based on the conditions of strain-rate and temperature.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.85-91
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• 2019

In a cryogenic storage structure, the insulation system is in an environment in which fluid impact loads occur throughout the lifetime of the structure. In this study, we investigated the effect of repetitive impact loading on the mechanical performance of glass fiber-reinforced polyurethane foam. The repeated impact loading test was conducted in accordance with the required impact energy and the required number of repetitive impacts. The impact behavior of glass fiber-reinforced polyurethane foam was analyzed in terms of stress and displacement. After the impact test, the specimen was subjected to a compression test to evaluate its mechanical performance. We analyzed the critical impact energy that affected mechanical performance. For the impact conditions that were tested, the compressive strength and elastic modulus of the polyurethane foam can be degraded significantly.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.547-555
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to establish a numerical model of polyurethane foam (PUF) to simulate the dynamic response and strength of membrane-type Liquefied natural gas (LNG) Cargo containment system (CCS) under the impact load. To do this, initially, the visco-plastic behavior of PUF was characterized by testing the response of the PUF to the impact loads with various strain rates as well as PUF densities at room temperature and at cryogenic conditions. A PUF material model was established using the test results of the material and the FE analysis. To verify the validation of the established material model, simulations were performed for experimental applications, e.g., the dry drop test, and the results of FEA were compared to the experimental results. Based on this comparison, it was found that the dynamic response of PUF in dry drop tests, such as the reaction force and fracture behaviors, could be simulated successfully by the material model proposed in this study.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.515-522
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• 2019

Since Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is normally carried at 1.1 bar pressure and at -163℃, special Cargo Containment System (CCS) are used. As LNG carrier is becoming larger, typical LNG insulation systems adopt a method to increase the thickness of insulation panel to reduce sloshing load and Boil-off Rate (BOR). However, this will decrease LNG cargo volume and increase insulation material costs. In this paper, silica aerogel, glass bubble were synthesized in polyurethane foam to increase volumetric efficiency by improving mechanical and thermal performance of insulation. In order to increase dispersibility of particles, ultrasonic dispersion was used. Dynamic impact test, quasi-static compression test at room temperature (20℃) and cryogenic temperature (-163℃) was evaluated. To evaluate the thermal performance, the thermal conductivity at room temperature (20℃) was measured. As a result, specimens without ultrasonic dispersion have a little effect on strength under the compressive load, although they show high mechanical performance under the impact load. In contrast, specimens with ultrasonic dispersion have significantly increased impact strength and compressive strength. Recently, as the density of Polyurethane foam (PUF) has been increasing, these results can be a method for improving the mechanical and thermal performance of insulation panel.

• Composites Research
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.74-82
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• 1999

The static and fatigue characteristics of polyurethane foam cored sandwich structures are investigated. Three types of the specimens with the glass fabric faces and the polyurethane foam core are used; non-stitched. stitched, and stiffened sandwich specimen. Especially additional structural reinforcements with the twisted polyester and glass fiber for thickness direction are made to stitched sandwich structure panel to minimize the delamination of structure which is stitched the upper and lower faces through the core and the resin is impregnated Into stitched fiber with the characteristics of low viscosity of resin at resin flow temperature and cured together with during the curing process. Bending strength of stitched specimen which is 50 mm $50{\times}50{\;}mm$ pitched is improved by 50 % as com-pared with non-stitched specimen and stiffened specimen is improved 10 times more than non-stitched structure. After fatigue testing of $10^6$cycles by 20% of ultimate load under monotonic load, the bending fatigue strength of non-stitched specimen is decreased by 27% of monotonic bending strength, 39% for stitched structure and 20% for stiffened specimen. To verify the aging effect of polyurethane form core, Ultrasonic C-scanning equipment is used to detect the damage of skin laminate alone after fatigue test. From results of UT C-scan images, there is no defect that can be damaged occurred during fatigue test. It is concluded that the decrease of bending strength for foam cored sandwich specimen is caused by the decrease of stiffness due to the aging of polyurethane foam core during fatigue cycles.

• Composites Research
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.90-95
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• 2019

Sloshing impact loads on liquefied natural gas (LNG) carr iers are the main issue of damage to the insulation system in LNG cargo containment system (LNG CCS). The damage to the insulation system would be fatal in maintaining a temperature-savings environment in LNG CCS. The typical method is to enhance the insulation materials that can maintain a constant cryogenic temperature. Insulation materials consist of polyurethane foam and plywood, an adhesive for bonding these two materials. This study intends to improve the absorption energy of the material when the impact load is applied by creating a glass bubble/epoxy composite resin as part of the insulation. The experimental scenarios consider the effect of temperature ($20^{\circ}C$, $-163^{\circ}C$), glass bubble weight fraction in epoxy resin through free fall experiments. Experiments have shown that if the glass bubble additive reaches 20 wt.%, the cryogenic absorption energy is a maximum performance and that 0 wt.% has a maximum ambient absorption energy. However, the agglomeration has been occurred due to deterioration of the stirring performance if weight fraction was 20 wt.% and the result of 0 wt.% have been revealed that ambient absorption energy is significantly lower.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.307-313
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• 2010

In this study, alternative designs for the bends used in district heating pipes are investigated. The district heating pipes, which are subjected to temperatures of 10 to $120^{\circ}C$ and a water pressure of $16\;kgf/cm^2$, have to withstand thermomechanical cyclic loads when in use. These pipes comprise three concentric tubes: a steel pipe (internal), polyurethane (PUR) insulator (middle), and a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) case (external). In addition, the bends in the district heating pipe system are covered with foam pads that cause aging. In this study, an alternative bend design that does not involve the use of a foam pad is proposed to overcome the aging problem in the bends. In the proposed design, "shear rings" are added to the surface of a bend, and its dimensions are determined by a combination of the statistical (Taguchi) method and FEM. The geometrical parameters such as thickness, height, and number of the rings significantly affect the design optimization, and hence, they affect the results of the FEM.