Hanwha Ocean and Bureau Veritas to advance the structural assessment of independent LNG fuel tanks for ultra large container ships

The JDP agreement was signed by Joong-Kyu Kang, Head of R&D Institute of Hanwha Ocean Co., Ltd, and Drago Pinteric, Country Chief Executive Korea of Marine & Offshore at Bureau Veritas, at a ceremony on 6 September at Gastech 2023 in Singapore. The project aims to enhance the design process of independent LNG fuel tanks and accelerate the development of new solutions for the structural assessment of those systems.

Today, many vessels are equipped with independent tanks, either for the purpose of LNG/LPG transportation or for the use of LNG/LPG as a fuel. The particularity of these independent tanks is that they are not rigidly connected to the hull structure but are instead held by an important number of dedicated supports, which must be designed with consideration of non-linear structural response during operations, including loss of contact and sliding.

Accurately solving these contact nonlinearities usually requires large computational time, and the method is very sensitive to convergence parameters. Recently, Bureau Veritas developed a new methodology to assess contact behaviour nonlinearities. The method was validated by comparison with simulations, and it was demonstrated that the central processing unit (CPU) time is significantly lower, while maintaining the same levels of accuracy. The proposed solution, which has been implemented in the Bureau Veritas hydro-structure interaction suite Homer, allows for the fully consistent structural analysis of vessels equipped with independent tanks.

Kang said: “Through this JDP with Bureau Veritas, it is expected that structural analysis technology will be further advanced to improve the performance of independent tanks and develop differentiated products for the application of future projects.”

Alexander Gregg-Smith, Senior Vice President of Bureau Veritas Marine & Off-shore North Asia Zone, added: “We are pleased to cooperate with Hanwha Ocean on the structural assessment of independent LNG fuel tanks, which will support technology development for the future application of innovative solutions while also ensuring the safety of shipping. We hope that this project will strengthen the collaboration and relationship between Hanwha Ocean and Bureau Veritas for the future development of more sustainable shipping solutions and technologies.”

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/lng-shipping/18092023/hanwha-ocean-and-bureau-veritas-to-advance-the-structural-assessment-of-independent-lng-fuel-tanks-for-ultra-large-container-ships/