Background

The LNG industry is concerned about the effect of sloshing loads on containment systems and their supporting structures. The fact that the motion in a tank is a function of many parameters and that the resulting impact – spatially localised and including several physical phenomena - interacts with a complex containment system has made sloshing assessment extremely challenging.

A conventional sloshing assessment of new membrane LNG carriers follows the comparative approach which is based on small scale model testing, some numerical simulations and an excellent track record of LNG carriers. The model testing provides maximum loads based on statistical analysis of measured pressures. The response of the containment system under action of these loads is numerically simulated and checked against different limit states.

This sloshing assessment works well providing the reference LNG carrier is representative for a new LNG development. This could not be justified for a new generation of LNG-carriers and LNG offshore facilities that use partial tank filling. Therefore a need for a full scale validation was recognised by MARIN in 2003.

Scope of work

The Sloshel project includes full- and large-scale testing of membrane containment systems, numerical developments carried out by Bureau Veritas and validation studies undertaken by the consortium members.