Mechanical behavior of LNG concrete outer tank under wind

In order to obtain the response characteristics of LNG (liquefied natural gas) containment tanks under wind load, an accurate model of a 160000 m³ LNG tank is established based on practical engineering. Finite element analysis via ANSYS is conducted considering static wind and along-wind vibration. Comparison is made between the Fourier series for wind pressure distribution of cylinders supposed by foreign scholars and shape coefficients for wind pressure distribution of circular section structures adopted by Chinese load code for the design of building structures. Wind pressure height coefficients are also compared between Chinese code and U.S code. It is proved that the coefficients adopted by Chinese load code are more adverse for the LNG tank. The results of deformation and stress in different wind directions are analyzed and reveals how wind directions affect the response of LNG tanks under wind load. The analysis of wind-induced response is carried out, adapting quasi-steady assumption and Davenport spectrum. The results show that under along-wind fluctuating wind load, the changing trend of deformation and stress is close to the result under static wind but the extreme response is twice. Compared to the response under other static loads, static wind load and along-wind fluctuating wind load have little influence on LNG tanks.