Rollover phenomena in liquefied natural gas storage: analysis on heat and pressure distribution through CFD simulation

Abstract

CFD utilization in LNG industry especially in storage procedure is getting momentum since the increase in demand for LNG worldwide has led to a flexible trading market. Stored at LNG boiling temperature, heat leak is a major challenge as it causes slow boil-off which leads to LNG stratification and LNG rollover, a tragedy which has negatively impacted people, environment, company asset and reputation due to rupture and damage of the storage tank. ANSYS Fluent 14 was used to analyze the heat and pressure distribution of LNG during heat leak. The simulation involved static tank, heat leak from bottom and side wall, initial and surrounding temperature of 111K and 303K and thermal conductivity of perlite of 0.029 w/m.k. The susceptible area to rupture on inner wall tank was located at the top circumference of the tank due to higher pressure. The leak of heat occurred at the side wall contributes the largest heat compared to bottom tank since more surface area provided.