Thermomechanical response of LNG concrete tank to cryogenic temperatures

The reinforced concrete tanks for liquefied natural gas storage, which have many advantages over steel tanks (high resistance to cryogenic temperatures and thermal shock, fatigue and buckling, fire resistance, etc.), are analyzed. Since the main drawback of concrete tanks is their poor resistance to tensile stresses, in order to investigate the thermally induced tensile stresses, a numerical model of a transient thermal analysis is presented for the evaluation of thermomechanical response of concrete tank to the cryogenic temperature, taking into account the temperature dependence of the thermophysical properties of the concrete tank thermal conductivity and specific heat.