Basic Design for Large Above-Ground Tank S.J.Jeon*, C.H.Chung*, Y.U.Kim**, H.S.Kim**, N.S.

Choi** * : Institute of Construction Technology, DAEWOO E&C CO., LTD. ** : DAWEOO E&C CO., LTD.

ABSTRACT

Design procedure of above-ground prestressed concrete (PC) LNG storage tanks with 200,000 m3 capacity has been investigated by Daewoo E&C. As the capacity increases, special attention should be paid to the existing code provisions related to the inner and outer tanks and efficient procedure should be established to design LNG tanks with structural and cost efficiency. The inner tank of 9% Ni type was designed to the API code. The procedures to determine main sections and prestressing schemes of each structural component of the outer tank were investigated to study the scale-up effects. It is expected that the sections determined by the above procedures could be effectively utilized as initial data for the detailed analyses of the whole structure under various loading conditions. Refined and optimized shape of the LNG tank is now under development.
INTRODUCTION

LNG storage tanks can be effectively used to cope with seasonal fluctuations in natural gas demand. Construction costs of the tanks occupy major portion of the LNG terminals total construction costs. Therefore, various efforts have been made to increase the cost efficiency of the LNG tanks, which can be largely divided into two parts; (1) There has been a clear tendency toward LNG tanks of higher capacity during the past decades. It can be achieved by the capacity expansion to decrease the relative cost per stored capacity and enable more effective land use(1), (2), (2) The cost efficiency as well as the shortening construction period have been pursued through the technological development in material and structural aspects(3). For the in-ground or under-ground LNG tanks, 200,000 m3 capacity has been already constructed at Negishi and Ohgisima in Japan, and Inchon in Korea. As a comparison, maximum capacity of aboveground tanks so far was 180,000 m3 at Senboku and Himeji in Japan(3). Recent literatures and papers have repeatedly reported that some revisions of the codes are required especially for the inner tank to design full containment type above-ground LNG tanks of higher capacity with economical (height to diameter) proportions(1), (4).

The most commonly used codes for the design of inner tanks are API 620(5) and BS 7777(6). Also, many of the domestic constructions in Japan have been based on Japanese own codes(7). However, Eurocode(EN265002) will reflect some important points required to design more reasonable dimensions of inner tank with higher capacity. EN265002 is now in preparation under the CEN Committee TC 265, part of which was already published in PD 7777(8). Included in EN265002 are two apparent features, i. e., increased maximum thickness of 50mm of the inner tank plate and partial height hydrostatic testing equivalent to 125% of the maximum product load. These rules are distinguished from the maximum thickness of 30mm and full height hydrostatic testing imposed on the BS 7777 and the way toward higher capacity is widely open. Encouraged with above mentioned trend of the design codes and accumulated experiences with the LNG tank constructions for years, Daewoo E&C has investigated the design procedure of aboveground prestressed concrete (PC) LNG storage tanks with 200,000 m3 capacity. Together with basic design of the tank, distinct features of increased structural efficiency and so induced material saving are pursued over the existing above-ground type tanks. Some efficient procedures to determine main sections and prestressing schemes of each structural component of the outer tank are investigated with the increased capacity.
DESIGN OF 9% Ni INNER TANK

9% Ni inner tank is designed according to the API 620 Appendix Q and L. It has the similar rule of hydrostatic testing to EN265002 in that 125% of the maximum product load is specified. Maximum thickness of the inner tank plate is not explicitly specified in API but actually ASTM thickness restriction should be followed. Several alternatives of the inner tank sizes were explored and compared together in the respect of some factors. Special attention was paid to the height to diameter proportion of the inner tank so that structural safety is ensured under the seismic loading of SSE as well as OBE conditions even though no anchor strap is attached to restrict movements of the inner tank. Fig. 1 shows schematic sections of the currently developed inner tank with 200,000 m3 capacity. The inner tank has the maximum thickness of 31.2mm at the lower part of the inner tank wall and the diameter of 90m. The height to diameter ratio of the inner tank has the primary significance since overall proportion of LNG tank is determined from the inner tank rather than outer tank in many cases. The following aspects can be discussed in relation to the sizing problem. Provided that the strength of the inner tank plate is given, the only load-resisting factor is the thickness of the plate. On the other hand, there are some more load-resisting factors in the outer tank including concrete strength, thickness, and the amounts of reinforcing bars and prestressing tendons. When we consider inner and outer tanks are

integrated together in the full containment type and both tanks should possess the strength to resist design loadings independently, it is plausible that overall proportion of the tank is more dependent upon the inner tank that has less redundancies in the load-resisting mechanisms.

Fig. 1. Schematic dimensions of the above-ground LNG storage tank with 200,000 m3 capacity
DESIGN OF OUTER TANK

General remarks

As a preliminary study, LNG outer tank is divided into the structural components and each component is separately investigated by the appropriate shell theories. These approaches are expected to concisely give insights into the sizing problem prior to the detailed analyses of whole structure when the capacity expansion is attempted. Parts of the investigations are introduced in the followings.
Roof dome

Many of the existing concrete roof domes of above-ground LNG tanks have the radius of curvature equal to the diameter of outer wall. It corresponds to the rise to diameter ratio of 1/8, which is often recommended for the roof domes where self-weight and/or externally distributed load are dominant(9). Those practices may originate from the elementary membrane theory, since no tensile stress is induced in hoop direction under those kinds of loads for flat domes with that rise or less.

On the other hand, it can be detected that higher rise is advantageous in the structural aspect when subjected to internal pressure, since the higher curvature can endure internal pressure with less tensile stresses. Therefore, it can be said that when the internal pressure is additionally considered, which is one of the main design loadings in LNG tanks although the magnitude is far smaller than that in the nuclear containment structures, conventional rise of the domes in the above-ground LNG tanks is not optimal at least in the structural efficiency. In the design of LNG tank with 200,000 m3 capacity, it is carefully considered to increase the rise of dome up to 0.8d not violating API code, where d is the diameter of outer wall. Besides structural safety, no special code-related restriction is imposed on the shape of concrete dome, however the codes for the carbon steel liner that is attached inside the concrete dome should be additionally followed. API 650(10) specifies that radius of curvature of the liner should range from 0.8d to 1.2d. Some of the large in-ground LNG tanks where the roof dome is also exposed above the ground level had the radius of curvature close to 0.8d. Refer to the LNG tanks at Negishi and Inchon already introduced above. Structural safety check should be performed in two ways for the concrete domes, i. e., in the respect of allowable stress and buckling. Buckling safety of carbon steel liner is also important and varies sensitively depending on the placing method of concrete dome(11), but is not treated here. Table 1 represents the maximum hoop stresses of roof dome according to the membrane theory of shell structures under some major loading conditions. The target stress level is referred to and adjusted to that of some existing above-ground LNG tanks under same loading conditions, thus it is found that two cases of D and G are adequate for the first trial. Moreover, it can be concluded that prestressing is not additionally required as is the case for most LNG tank domes. Here, allowable tensile stress is calculated as 24.2 kgf/cm2 based on the compressive strength equal to 300 kgf/cm2. Cases D and G have similar safety factors, however the estimated amount of concrete differs each other. For the case D it is estimated that 3.3% of the total amount of concrete can be saved from the thickness reduction when compared to the case G.

Table 1. Stress check for the concrete roof dome(hoop stress) Units : kgf/cm2
Dimensions of dome Types of LNG tank A B C D Proposed design E F G Radius of curvature 1.0d 1.0d 1.0d 0.8d 0.58d 1.0d 1.0d Thickness (at the crown) Internal pressure (3.7 tf/m2) Selfweight Externally distributed loads (0.5 tf/m2) Total stress (severer case) Safety factor (allowable stress /total stress)

Remark

Conventional design

0.6m 0.45m 0.6m 0.6m 0.6m 0.5m 0.65m

26.5 28.8 28.4 22.7 16.5 34.0 26.2

-7.1 -5.8 -7.6 -4.0 2.2 -7.6 -7.6

-1.8 -1.9 -1.9 -0.7 1.1 -2.3 -1.8

19.4 23.0 20.8 18.7 19.8 26.4 18.6

1.25 1.05 1.16 1.29 1.22 0.92 1.30 Acceptable Acceptable

Fig. 2. Shape of roof dome Buckling safety is examined according to ACI 373(12), which indicates that the case D also satisfies the buckling-related code requirements both for the construction and operation phases. Here, it is assumed that concrete dome is placed in two layers with the same thickness as is frequently adopted.
Ring beam

Primary role of the ring beam is to cope with major portion of the thrust transmitted from roof dome thus to reduce excessive deformation of upper part of the wall. Therefore, dimensions of ring beam and the amount of prestressing tendons inside the ring beam have close relationship with the shape of roof dome. From the geometrical consideration, higher rise dome induces less thrust to the

ring beam. Thus, higher rise dome to a certain extent than conventional cases of above-ground LNG tank is also beneficial for the ring beam as well as the dome itself. No tensile stress is intended in ring beam in the present design of LNG tank with 200,000 m3 capacity referring to some existing above-ground LNG tanks. Dome shape of case D in Table 1 that was regarded as recommendable is also adopted for the present calculations. Both cases H and I in Table 2 result in the total stress close to zero by providing twelve tendons. However, ring beam height is not enough to possess required number of tendons for the case H thus case I, which accommodates practical space between tendons, is more acceptable. As a comparison, case C in table 1 that has the radius of curvature of dome equal to 1.0d requires as many as sixteen tendons and correspondingly enlarged ring beam section to satisfy the same target stress level. Table 2. Stress check for the ring beam(hoop stress) Units : kgf/cm2
Types of LNG tank Conventional design Proposed design A B H I Dimensions of ring beam Prestressing Width Height Dome loadings Selfweight Externally distributed loads Total stress Remark

1.5m 1.1m 1.5m 2.0m

3.2m 2.6m 3.2m 4.3m

-40.3 -67.8 -60.6 -33.8

53.6 44.7 46.4 25.9

16.7 18.5 13.8 7.7

30.0 -4.6 -0.4 -0.2 Insufficient space for tendons Acceptable

Construction sequence of roof dome and ring beam has primary importance because stress state of the ring beam is much affected depending on the sequence. The construction procedure should be so planned as to avoid excessive compression as well as tension in the ring beam throughout all the phases. Case I is examined for some previous construction practices and found to have proper range of stress level not exceeding the limit values specified in the codes(9), (12).
Outer wall

Some noticeable points in the design of present concrete tank wall are illustrated. LNG pressure and internal pressure are the main design loadings of the wall, where LNG is assumed to be in contact with the outer wall for the case of leakage from the inner tank. Horizontal hoop tendons are installed to counteract the design loadings and also to introduce some residual compressive stress in hoop direction(12), (13). Vertical tendons are additionally required to control the stresses induced by vertical moment. Safety check should be performed for the construction as well as the operation phase according to the proper codes(9),
(12), (13)

, where the former is usually more critical in the case of

prestressed concrete wall. The most important problem is how to control the excessive moment and corresponding tensile stress at the lower part of wall that result from the restraint of wall deformation by the rigid bottom slab. Some strategies to control the excessive tensile stress are revisited and a recent research related to the optimal installation of tendons is introduced in the followings. Fig. 3 shows typical moment distribution in the tank wall along with some alternatives in the wall shape. Vertical stress can be calculated from = 6 M / t 2 , where M is the vertical moment and t thickness of the wall. Thus the magnitude of excessive stress at the lower part of wall can be considerably diminished by increasing the thickness of the wall. Considering that the moment distribution is not much changed by the slight variation of wall profiles, walls of varying thickness are more effective than those of constant thickness, that is, the amount of concrete can be saved by proceeding from a to d in Fig. 3 with the similar safety level maintained. In fact, most of the aboveground LNG tanks in Korea have the wall type of c in Fig. 3, where lower half of height has varying thickness and remaining upper half constant thickness. Taking the actual moment diagram into account, it is conceivable that varying thickness section be further localized below, say, three-tenth of height for the material saving in the present design.

Fig. 3. Moment distribution of wall and alternative wall shapes Another strategy to reduce the excessive tensile stress is to provide a proper amount of vertical tendons. However, magnitude of the compression that can be introduced by the vertical tendons is limited by the allowable compressive stress at the stage of initial prestressing. It has been reported that eccentrically positioned vertical tendons are of help compared to the concentrically positioned cases, but actual effect of eccentricity is doubtful as has been noticed by recent studies(14). High strength concrete contributes to raise the strength of section often resulting in thinner section. High strength of 600 kgf/cm2 over conventional 400 kgf/cm2 has been adopted for the wall of

Senboku LNG tank(3). However, it should be noted that too much strength difference between the structural components could induce undesirable internal forces from the difference of long-term behavior due to creep and shrinkage of concrete. Construction procedure is also important factor. Hoop tendons in a wall segment are stressed simultaneously with the each wall segment construction in some previous constructions, while in some cases all the hoop tendons are stressed at a time after all the concrete works of the outer tank are completed. The stress states resulting from those two construction methods are never similar and the Fig. 3 only represents the latter case. According to the recent researches(14)-(16), it is effective to modify the conventional trapezoidal pressure distribution induced by the hoop tendons to other types of distributions, an example of which is shown in Fig. 4. By adjusting the spaces of hoop tendons in lower part of the wall utilizing optimization technique if required, more advanced pressure distribution can be achieved that results in moderate magnitude of the base moment for both the initial prestressing and operation stages. Also, required number of tendons can be saved. In the present design of wall now under development, all the above mentioned aspects related to the optimal stress control are taken into account to find out most economical as well as structurally safe alternatives.

(a) Conventional scheme

(b) Proposed scheme

Fig. 4. Moment distributions of the conventional and the proposed prestressing schemes

CONCLUSION

Construction costs of the LNG storage tanks occupy major portion of the LNG terminals total construction costs. Thus, there is a clear tendency toward LNG tanks of higher capacity since it has been recognized as the desirable method for maximizing cost efficiency. Encouraged with revisions of existing codes that may restrict the economical design, it is expected that above-ground LNG tanks that have higher capacity will be constructed. Design procedure of above-ground prestressed concrete (PC) LNG storage tanks of full containment type with 200,000 m3 capacity has been investigated by Daewoo E&C. Together with basic design of the tank, distinct features of increased structural efficiency and so induced material saving are pursued over the existing above-ground type tanks. The design of refined and optimized shape of the LNG tank is now in progress.
REFERENCES

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