Dynamic properties of the corrugated stainless steel membrane reinforced with the glass composite pressure resisting structure for LNG carriers

The primary barrier of cryogenic containment system (CCS) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers is composed of corrugated stainless steel to reduce the thermal stress at the LNG temperature of −163 °C under the pressure of 0.11 MPa. The corrugation of the primary barrier not only buckles easily by the cavitation impact of LNG, but also produces large tumbling noise, which irritates the crews of LNG carriers. In this work, the corrugation of primary barrier was reinforced with the pressure resisting structure (PRS) of E-glass fiber epoxy composite to increase both the buckling resisting capability of the corrugation and to decrease the tumbling noise and vibration due to the cavitation impact of LNG. The natural frequency and damping ratio of the corrugation with and without PRS were measured, and various damping materials were wrapped around the PRS to determine an optimum vibration suppression structure. Also the impact load transmissibility of the primary barrier with PRS was investigated by the drop weight impact test, from which an optimum combination of PRS and the damping material has been suggested.