Diseño de un tanque de almacenamiento para lng, mediante la automatización del cálculo en python, y evaluación de esfuerzos aplicando la teoría de membrana con análisis MEF

Abstract

The growing demand for natural gas in the local environment as a need to diversify the energy matrix has led to the need within engineering for the structural design of the parts and components that involve the handling of this product in its liquid form. One of the main components are the storage tanks. Therefore, the objective of this work is to design a storage tank for liquefied natural gas, by automating the calculation in Python, for the evaluation of stresses and deformation by applying the membrane theory and the FEM. The methodology starts with the design of the side walls and the floor in accordance with API regulations, the seismic stability analysis is performed to determine the splash height and the free height of the fluid, together with the heat transfer analysis, which will be focused on achieving the automation of the calculation in the programming language. Secondly, the membrane theory and boundary perturbation are developed to obtain the stress and deformation values to compare them with the values obtained by FEM analysis. The methodology led to obtaining the geometry of the tank body that meets the initial requirements, obtaining stress and deformation values in the inner tank body that in comparison with the data offered by the FEM analysis software, a difference of 2.146% and 6.66% respectively was found in their maximums. In this context, together with the statistical tests, it can be stated that the results obtained by FEM analysis and membrane theory with edge perturbation do not have a significant difference between their peers, the agreement decreases as observed in the stress concentrators such as section changes and the last rings of the body.