In-situ strain monitoring in liquid containers of LNG transporting carriers

Min-Cheol Oh; Jun-Kyu Seo; Kyung-Jo Kim; Sang-Min Lee; Myung-Hyun Kim

doi:10.1117/12.795793

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3 September 2008 In-situ strain monitoring in liquid containers of LNG transporting carriers

Min-Cheol Oh, Jun-Kyu Seo, Kyung-Jo Kim, Sang-Min Lee, Myung-Hyun Kim

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Proceedings Volume 7070, Optical Technologies for Arming, Safing, Fuzing, and Firing IV; 70700X (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.795793
Event: Optical Engineering + Applications, 2008, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) transport carriers are exposed to a risk by the repeated bump in the LNG container during the vessel traveling over the wave in ocean. The liquid inside the container, especially when it was not fully contained, make a strong bump onto the insulation panel of the tank wall. The insulation panel consists of several layers of thick polyurethane foam (PUF) to maintain the LNG below the cryogenic temperature, -162°C. Due to the repeated shock on the PUF, a crack could be developed on the tank wall causing a tremendous disaster for LNG carriers. To prevent the accidental crack on the tank, a continuous monitoring of the strain imposed on the PUF is recommended. In this work, a fiber-optic Bragg grating was imbedded inside the PUF for monitoring the strain parallel to the impact direction. The optical fiber sensor with a small diameter of 125 μm was suitable to be inserted in the PUF through a small hole drilled after the PUF was cured. In-situ monitoring of the strain producing the change of Bragg reflection wavelength, a high speed wavelength interrogation method was employed by using an arrayed waveguide grating. By dropping a heavy mass on the PUF, we measured the strain imposed on the insulation panel.

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Min-Cheol Oh, Jun-Kyu Seo, Kyung-Jo Kim, Sang-Min Lee, and Myung-Hyun Kim "In-situ strain monitoring in liquid containers of LNG transporting carriers", Proc. SPIE 7070, Optical Technologies for Arming, Safing, Fuzing, and Firing IV, 70700X (3 September 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.795793

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