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(21d) CFD Based Study to Predict Rollover in an

Industrial LNG Storage Tank
Conference: AIChE Annual Meeting

Year: 2021

Proceeding: 2021 Annual Meeting

Group: Topical Conference: Next-Gen Manufacturing

Session: Industry 4.0, Digital Twins, and Digital Transformation I

Time: Sunday, November 7, 2021 - 4:39pm-5:02pm

Authors: 
Singh, S. P. - Presenter,
IIT Madras
Srinivasan, R. - Presenter,
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Karimi, I. - Presenter,
National University of Singapore

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https://www.aiche.org/academy/conferences/aiche-annual-meeting/2021/proceeding/paper/21d-cfd-based-study-predict-rollover-industrial-lng-stor… 1/6
11/11/22, 09:35 (21d) CFD Based Study to Predict Rollover in an Industrial LNG Storage Tank | AIChE Academy

evaporates. This results in a vapor stream known as Boil-off-gas (BOG) and increases the density
of the remaining LNG. In an LNG terminal, when cargo is unloaded to a storage tank containing
LNG of different densities, stratified layers with different liquid densities are formed. These
layers further mix due to density equilibration and interface disruption under the effect of static
pressure and cross the saturation temperature. This results in a large amount of BOG generation
instantly, which leads to high tank pressure and a hazardous situation. This phenomenon of
overall mixing and sudden generation of BOG is known as rollover. Over 24 rollover incidents
have been reported over the last 60 years (GIIGNL, 2015), including those in La Spezia (Italy,
1971) and Partington (UK, 1993). In order to prevent the significant losses that arise during a
rollover, it is important to develop a fundamental understanding of the boil-off-gas generation
and the rollover phenomena, which is the focus of this paper.

The rollover phenomenon has been studied both theoretically as well as experimentally over the
years. Germeles et al. (1975) proposed a double-diffusion LNG model by approximating methane
& other components as a salt-sugar solution (thermohaline correlation) without considering
boiling mechanism and turbulence during a rollover event. Heestand et al. (1983) improved this
model by considering turbulence convection for heat and mass transfer between the stratified
layers and rejected the salt-sugar solution model. Koyama et al. (2007), used a 3D CFD model to
study rollover by considering light LNG filling only through the bottom of the tank without
including the miscibility and the vapor mass removal from the liquid phase due to evaporation. Li
et al. (2015) considered a 2D CFD model and induced stratification artificially to study rollover
without considering the heat ingress. Hubert et al. (2019) improved the Li model by considering
3D CFD simulation with heat ingress through tank wall but did not include LNG filling mode of
operation. Saleem et al. (2020) considered miscibility factors in the 2D CFD model and
formulated stratification by different modes of tank filling. The major shortcoming of the model
was to study the rollover under 2D tank without considering the effect of LNG unloading mode
over rollover and BOG generation. These studies indicate that a 3D model of the tank that
considers the effect of loading and unloading operations can represent the rollover in a more
realistic manner. In the existing literature, rollover scenarios have been studied by inducing
stratification artificially at the top and bottom of the tank, but the effect of unloading operation
over rollover has not been studied. Since this is the most common occurrence in industry and the
one of most concern to the LNG terminal operations personnel, we seek to fill these gaps in this
work.

In this paper, we develop a CFD model to gain a fundamental understanding of the rollover
phenomenon and the associated BOG generation. In this model, a 3D tank is used to store LNG at
the receiving terminal. The tank is initialized to hold some initial level of LNG (inventory), while
LNG of varying densities are allowed to fill either through the top or bottom of the tank to induce
stratification. We consider heat ingress continuously through the walls of the tank, which
increases the temperature of the stored LNG under the effect of local pressure (both tank top
pressure and static pressure of LNG). This local pressure is used to calculate the bubble and dew
point of the LNG mixture. Our model offers the flexibility to consider the LNG in the storage tank
to be considered either as miscible or immiscible as necessary. In this paper, we report results
from a case study to study rollover during LNG unloading operation. While this is a common
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https://www.aiche.org/academy/conferences/aiche-annual-meeting/2021/proceeding/paper/21d-cfd-based-study-predict-rollover-industrial-lng-stor… 2/6
11/11/22, 09:35 (21d) CFD Based Study to Predict Rollover in an Industrial LNG Storage Tank | AIChE Academy

ingress, and density difference of LNG are also performed. Results from scaled-down studies
(smaller size tank, shorter duration) and from industrial scales will both be presented. The
operational benefits to the terminal from the accurate estimates of BOG generation rate and
rollover time will also be discussed.

References:

1. GIIGNL Technical Study Group, 2015, Rollover in LNG Storage Tanks; Technical report.
2. Germeles, A.E., 1975. A model for LNG tank rollover 11.
3. Heestand, J., Shipman, C.W., Meader, J.W., 1983. A predictive model for rollover in
stratified LNG tanks. AIChE J. 29, 199–207. https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.690290205
4. Koyama, K., 2007. CFD Simulation on LNG Storage Tank to Improve Safety and Reduce
Cost, in: Koyamada, K., Tamura, S., Ono, O. (Eds.), Systems Modeling and Simulation.
Springer Japan, Tokyo, pp. 39–43. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-49022-7_8
5. Li, Y., Li, Z., Wang, W., 2015. Simulating on rollover phenomenon in LNG storage tanks
and determination of the rollover threshold. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process
Industries 37, 132–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jlp.2015.07.007
6. Hubert, A., Dembele, S., Denissenko, P., Wen, J., 2019. Predicting Liquefied Natural Gas
(LNG) rollovers using Computational Fluid Dynamics. Journal of Loss Prevention in the
Process Industries 62, 103922. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jlp.2019.103922
7. Saleem, A., Farooq, S., Karimi, I.A., Banerjee, R., 2020. CFD Analysis of Stratification and
Rollover Phenomena in an Industrial-Scale LNG Storage Tank. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 59,
14126–14144. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.0c02546

Topics:  Safe Design

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