• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.31-57
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• 2011

Impact pressure due to sloshing is of great concern for the ship owners, designers and builders of the LNG carriers regarding the safety of LNG containment system and hull structure. Sloshing of LNG in partially filled tank has been an active area of research with numerous experimental and numerical investigations over the past decade. In order to accurately predict the sloshing impact load, a new numerical method was developed for accurate resolution of violent sloshing flow inside a three-dimensional LNG tank including wave breaking, jet formation, gas entrapping and liquid-gas interaction. The sloshing flow inside a membrane-type LNG tank is simulated numerically using the Finite-Analytic Navier-Stokes (FANS) method. The governing equations for two-phase air and water flows are formulated in curvilinear coordinate system and discretized using the finite-analytic method on a non-staggered grid. Simulations were performed for LNG tank in transverse and longitudinal motions including horizontal, vertical, and rotational motions. The predicted impact pressures were compared with the corresponding experimental data. The validation results clearly illustrate the capability of the present two-phase FANS method for accurate prediction of impact pressure in sloshing LNG tank including violent free surface motion, three-dimensional instability and air trapping effects.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.667-679
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• 2020

As the LNG carrier operates in ice covered waters, it is key to ensure the overall safety, which is related to the coupling effect of ice-breaking process and internal liquid sloshing. This paper focuses on the sloshing simulation of the ice-breaking LNG carrier, and the numerical method is proposed using Circumferential Crack Method (CCM) and Volume of Vluid (VOF) with two main key factors (velocity νx and force Fx). The ship motion analysis is carried out by CCM when the ship navigates in the ice-covered waters with a constant propulsion power. The velocity νx is gained, which is the initial excitation condition for the calculation of internal sloshing force Fx. Then, the ship motion is modified based on iterative computations under the union action of ice-breaking force and liquid sloshing load. The sloshing simulation under the LNG tank is studied with the modified ship motion. Moreover, an ice-breaking LNG ship with three-leaf type tank is used for case study. The internal LNG sloshing is simulated with three different liquid heights, including free surface shape and sloshing pressure distribution at a given moment, pressure curves at monitoring points on the bulkhead. This present method is effective to solve the sloshing simulation during ice-breaking process, which could be a good reference for the design of the polar ice-breaking LNG carrier.

• Special Issue of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.38-43
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• 2005

The present study is concerned with the numerical analysis of the sloshing impact pressure of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carriers in rough sea. The reliable predictions of the both random tank motions in irregular waves and violent fluid flow in the LNG tanks are required for practical sloshing analysis procedure of LNG carriers. The three-dimensional numerical model adopting SOLA-VOF scheme is used to predict violent free surface movements of LNG tank in irregular motions. For accurate input motion of tank, a three-dimensional panel method program called SSMP (Samsung Ship Motion Program) is applied for seakeeping analysis. Comparison studies of sloshing analysis are carried out for No.2 tank of 138K and 205K LNG carriers to verify the safety of the LNG containment system of the proposed 205K large LNG carrier.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.537-553
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• 2016

This paper addresses the safety of two-row tank design by performing the extensive sloshing model tests. Owing to the uncertainties entangled with the scale law transforming the measured impact pressure up to the full scale one, so called comparative approach was taken to derive the design sloshing load. The target design vessel was chosen as 230 K LNG-FPSO with tow-row tank arrangement and the reference vessel as 138 K conventional LNG carrier, which has past track record without any significant failure due to sloshing loads. Starting with the site-specific metocean data, ship motion analysis was carried out with 3D diffraction-radiation program, then the obtained ship motion data was used as 6DOF tank excitation for subsequent sloshing model test and analysis. The statistical analysis was carried out with obtained peak data and the long-term sloshing load was determined out of it. It was concluded that the normalized sloshing impact pressure on 230 K LNG-FPSO with two-row tank arrangement is higher than that of convectional LNG carrier, hence requires the use of reinforced cargo containment system for the sake of failure-free operation without filling limitation.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.451-456
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• 2011

To ensure structural integrity of membrane type LNG tank, the rational assessment of the sloshing impact responses of tank structures should be preceded. The sloshing impact pressures acting on the insulation system of LNG tank are typical irregular loads and the resulting structural responses show very complex behaviors accompanied with fluid structure interaction. So it is not easy to estimate them accurately and immense time consuming calculation process would be necessary. In this research, a simplified method to analyse the dynamic structural responses of LNG tank insulation system under pressure time histories obtained by sloshing model test or numerical analysis was studied. The proposed technique based on the concept of linear combination of the triangular response functions which are the transient responses of structures under the unit triangular impact pressure acting on structures. The validity of suggested method was verified through the example calculations and applied to the dynamic structural response analysis of a real Mark III membrane type insulation system using the sloshing impact pressure time histories obtained by model test.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.409-422
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• 2019

Sloshing is a phenomenon which may lead to dynamic stability and damages on the local structure of the tank. Hence, several anti-sloshing devices are introduced in order to reduce the impact pressure and free surface elevation of liquid. A fixed baffle is the most prevailing anti-sloshing mechanism compared to the other methods. However, the additional of the baffle as the internal structure of the LNG tank can lead to frequent damages in long-term usage as this structure absorbs the sloshing loads and thus increases the maintenance cost and downtime. In this paper, a novel type of floating baffle is proposed to suppress the sloshing effect in LNG tank without the need for reconstructing the tank. The sloshing phenomenon in a membrane type LNG tank model was excited under sway motion with 30% and 50% filling condition in the model test. A regular motion by a linear actuator was applied to the tank model at different amplitudes and constant period at 1.1 seconds. Three pressure sensors were installed on the tank wall to measure the impact pressure, and a high-speed camera was utilized to record the sloshing motion. The floater baffle was modeled on the basis of uniform-discretization of domain and tested based on parametric variations. Data of pressure sensors were collected for cases without- and with-floating baffle. The results indicated successful reduction of surface run-up and impulsive pressure by using a floating baffle. The findings are expected to bring significant impacts towards safer sea transportation of LNG.

• Journal of Advanced Research in Ocean Engineering
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.41-52
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• 2017

This paper presents a numerical and experimental study of sloshing loads on liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels. Conventional LNG carriers with membrane-type cargo systems have filling restrictions from 10% to 70% of tank height. The main reason for such restrictions is high sloshing loads around these filling depths. However, intermediate filling depths cannot be avoided for most LNG vessels except the LNG carrier. This study attempted to design a membrane-type LNG tank with a modified lower-chamfer shape that allows all filling operations. First, numerical sloshing analysis was carried out to find an efficient height of the lower-chamfer that can reduce sloshing pressure at partially filled conditions. The numerical sloshing analysis program SHI-SLOSH was used for numerical simulation; this program is based on SOLA-VOF. The effectiveness of the newly designed tanks was validated by 1:50-scale three-dimensional tank tests. A total of three different tanks were tested: a conventional tank and two modified tanks. As test conditions, various filling depths and wave periods were considered, and the same test conditions were applied to the three tanks. During the test, slosh-induced dynamic pressures were measured around the corners of the tank wall. The measured pressure data were post-processed and the pressures of the three different tanks were statistically compared in several ways. Experimental results show that the modified tanks were quite effective in reducing sloshing loads at low filling conditions. This study demonstrated the possibility of all filling operations for LNG cargo containment systems.

• Special Issue of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.22-30
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• 2005

Sloshing loads, produced by the violent liquid free-surface motions inside the cargo tank have become an important design parameter in ship building industry since there have been demands for the increased sizes of the cargo containment system of LNG carriers. In this study, sloshing impact pressure acting on the shell of the spherical cargo tank of an LNG carrier as well as dynamic pressure and flow behavior around the pump tower located at the center of the tank have been calculated. Comparative numerical sloshing simulations for a spherical LNG tank using 2-D LR.FLUIDS which is based on the finite difference method and 3-D MSC.DYTRAN which is capable of calculating nonlinear fluid-structure interaction have been carried out. A method of calculating sloshing-induced dynamic loads and the subsequent structural strength analysis for pump tower of a spherical LNG carrier using MSC. DYTRAN and MSC.NASTRAN have been presented.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.114-125
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• 2017

This paper addresses a study of inner-tank sloshing effect on motion responses of a Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) system, through experimental analysis and numerical modeling. To investigate hydrodynamic characteristics of FLNG under the conditions of with and without LNG-tank sloshing, a series of numerical simulations were carried out using potential flow solver SESAM. To validate the numerical simulations, model tests on the FLNG system was conducted in both liquid and solid ballast conditions with 75% tank filling level in height. Good correlations were observed between the measured and predicted results, proving the feasibility of the numerical modeling technique. On the verified numerical model, Response Amplitude Operators (RAOs) of the FLNG with 25% and 50% tank filling levels were calculated in six degrees of freedom. The influence of tank sloshing with varying tank filling levels on the RAOs has been presented and analyzed. The results showed that LNG-tank sloshing has a noticeable impact on the roll motion response of the FLNG and a moderate tank filling level is less helpful in reducing the roll motion response.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2011.04a
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• pp.557-560
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• 2011

In the present paper, the sloshing resistance performance of an LNG carrier insulation system is evaluated by fluid-structure interaction (FSI) analysis. For this analysis, the arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) method is adopted to accurately calculate the structural behavior induced by internal LNG motion of a KC-1 type LNG carrier cargo tank. In addition, the global-local analysis method is introduced to reduce computational time and cost. The global model is built from shell elements to reduce the sloshing analysis time. The proposed novel analysis techniques can potentially be used to evaluate the structural integrity of LNG carrier insulation systems.