LNG Cargo Handling Under Arctic Conditions R&D

Nordic Yards sets up a new test track as a 'cooling zone' to test 3 models of the yard's own-design LNG cargo tanks.

A new test track has been inaugurated at the Warnemünde location of Nordic Yards. The cooling zone is being used to test three models, so-called mock-ups, developed as part of the POLAR Alliance. These models, all of which are Nordic Yards' own designs on a scale of 1:1, represent an LNG cargo handling system, but are being tested independently of one another for reasons of precision.

The test models include a double barrier tank (Aluminium Double Barrier Tank, ADBT), an LNG deck line with de-icing system and a double-walled bunker line.

The models are now being tested for three months alternately on the 15 metre-long test track at cryogenic temperatures. For this they will be cooled down several times in classified procedures from approximately +10°C to -163°C and then thawed again.

"The aim of our tests is to confirm our research results in practice. We intend to prove the manufacturability and usability of the system solutions that we have developed together with our POLAR research partners such as the Fraunhofer Application Centre for Large Structures in Production Engineering and R&M Ship Technologies," explained Burghard Zimmermann, Director of Design Department at Nordic Yards, during the opening of the line.

The aspects being analysed include the innovative insulating materials as well as the material and stress behaviour of the structure under Arctic conditions.

The Rostock-based expert alliance POLAR (Production, Operation and Living in Arctic Regions), sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, is a network of 13 companies – ten industrial companies and three research institutes – which together develop innovative maritime products for the Arctic shipbuilding and offshore market.