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Numerical study of natural convection in a liquefied natural gas tank

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Abstract

Natural convection in a liquefied natural gas storage tank, which is caused by the heat absorption from the surrounding environment, is studied numerically by solving the conservation equations for mass, momentum, and energy with a commercial computational fluid dynamics code, FLUENT. The present numerical results show that the interfacial heat transfer rate, which is directly related to the boil-offgas generation rate, strongly depends on the liquid-solid contact area. The contribution of the heat transfer rate from the vapor region is negligible compared with that from the liquid region. The effects of the external convection coefficient, tank size, and tank shape on the flow and temperature fields and on the interfacial heat flux are quantified.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanic Engineering, Sogang University, Seoul, 121-742, Korea

    Sangeun Roh & Gihun Son

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  1. Sangeun Roh
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  2. Gihun Son
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Correspondence to Gihun Son.

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Recommended by Editor Yong Tae Kang

Sangeun Roh received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sogang University in 2011. He is a graduate student of Mechanical Engineering at Sogang University in Seoul, Korea. Roh’s research interests are in the areas of multiphase flows and heat transfer.

Gihun Son received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Seoul National University in 1986 and 1988, respectively. He received his Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California-Los Angeles in 1996. Dr. Son is currently a professor of Mechanical Engineering at Sogang University in Seoul, Korea. His research interests are in the areas of multiphase dynamics, heat transfer, and power system simulation.

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Roh, S., Son, G. Numerical study of natural convection in a liquefied natural gas tank. J Mech Sci Technol 26, 3133–3140 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-012-0820-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-012-0820-x

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