A parametric sensitivity study on LNG tank sloshing loads by numerical simulations

A series of parametric sensitivity studies on unmatched dimensionless scale parameters is carried out on the liquified natural gas (LNG) tank sloshing loads by using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program. First, a brief dimensional analysis is conducted to identify the governing and non-matched non-dimensional parameters, assuming that Froude scaling law is adopted. Then the sensitivity of impact pressure is checked through numerical simulations against non-matched parameters, such as fluid viscosity, liquid–gas density ratio, and ullage pressure and compressibility. The CFD simulations are also verified against experimental results. It is concluded that the effects of viscosity and density ratio are insignificant, while the compressibility of ullage space plays an appreciable role, as was pointed out by Bass et al. [Bass, R.L., Bowles, E.B., Trudell, R.W., Navickas, J., Peck, J.C., Yoshimura, N., Endo, S., Pots, B.F.M., 1985. Modeling criteria for scaled LNG sloshing experiments. Transactions of the ASME 107, 272–280].