Influence of Longitudinal Fin Tubes Arrangement in LNG Ambient Air Vaporizers on the Wind Load

Abstract

The article presents the results of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of the wind action on liquefied natural gas (LNG) ambient air vaporizers (AAVs). A study concerning AAV with a 6 × 6 tubes array is presented to demonstrate how the distribution of longitudinal finned tubes and wind direction affect the average load and wind pressure acting on the vaporizer structure. The main goal of the study is to estimate the wind load on the structure and wind pressure on individual tubes depending on the pitch of the tubes arrangement. The above parameters are crucial for the strength analysis of the vaporizer structure. The derived analysis results provide important data on the variation of pressure on individual tubes, wind velocity inside AVV structure and indicate a significant increase in the average wind load acting on the structure for a wind direction of 45 degrees compared to a perpendicular direction.