Ultimate crushing strength criteria for GTT NO96 LNG carrier cargo containment system under sloshing load

摘要

The ultimate crushing strength of a Gaztransport and Technigaz N096-type liquefied natural gas cargo containment system (NO96 CCS) was investigated through experiments and numerical simulations as one of the possible failure modes. As crushing failure is directly related to material failure along the through-thickness direction of the horizontal members, i.e., the bottom plate of the primary box and the top plate of the secondary box, small-scale experimental crushing test results were applied. Instead of using the test results directly, static failure capacity estimates were obtained via nonlinear finite-element analyses, which accounted for the crushing of the horizontal members and hence also the bending that this introduced in the horizontal members. The crushing-failure capacities were determined by the calculated bending moment in the two horizontal members. The calculated capacity will be used to select a design criterion using the vertical stress at the mid-height of the bulkhead panel of the secondary box as an early design objective.