492

(昭和57年11月 日本 造 船 学 会 秋 季 講 演 会 に お い て講 演)

Application of New Construction Method to

Aluminum Spherical Tanks for LNGC

by Hiromasa Kawai*, Member Jinzo Nozaki**, Member

Kengo Nakayama**, Member Masataro Mitani**, Member
MasanoriKobayashi**,Member Hideo Takecia** Member

Summary
Thispaperpresentsan outlineof newconstructionmethodof 125,000 M3Moss
Rosenbergtype LNGCaluminumsphericaltanks whichwestartedbuildingin 1981.
Thisconstructionmethodhas manycharacteristicpointsand employsmoreadvanced
techniquesand has producedthe expectedresultsin savingson specialfacilitiesand
laborand in achievement
ofa highqualitylevel.

Rosenberg Verft, which has been adopted by

1. Introduction
In our Nagasaki Shipyard & Engine Works of
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the aluminum
spherical tanks for the ship have been completed
and the ship is now under outfitting work. Sub-
sequent to this ship, we received an order for two
additional LNG carriers, which will be put in
service in a project to import liquefied natural
gas from Arun in North Sumatra, and are build-
ing the aluminum spherical tanks for the third
ship.
We have energetically made various studies
for the past ten-odd years to prepare ourselves
for construction of LNG carriers. We have
conducted various fundamental researches on
materials, structure, element processing tech-
niques and special outfitting, making the most
of the potentials of our laboratories, and at the
same time, have continued studies on the opti-
mum construction method and construction
facilities as well, so that we can build any type
of LNG tanks.
At present we are not only putting the abund-
ant results of the series of these researches and
studies into practical use but also making vari-
ous improvements including those in element
techniques on the basis of our experience. All
three ships we are building at present are of the
aluminum spherical tank type developed by Moss
* Shimonoseki Shipyard & Engine
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
**
Nagasaki Shipyard & Engine Works,
bishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
request of the users and the shipowners.
In regard to the construction method of alu-
minum spherical tanks, new techniques have
been developed and applied on the basis of the
latest design in order to improve work efficiency
and achieve improvement and stabilization of
quality. In determining the tank construction
method, considerations were given to full utiliza-
tion of the existing facilities and application of
the latest techniques, with the top priority given
to 100% trouble-free work.
The features of the construction method of
aluminum spherical tanks can be summed up as
follows.
(1) Adoption of three-sections tank construc-
tion method
(2) Assembly stage work done indoors instead
of outdoors
(3) Integrated production in our own ship-
yard from material forming to completion
(4) Development and application of latest
element techniques
This paper reports on the features of the tank
construction method and the results of tank
construction, focusing on the aluminum spherical
tank construction method which is one of a few
key points in the construction of LNGC.
2. Basic Construction Method
2.1 Spherical Tank Construction Method
Works, Needless to say, the key points in building an
LNG carrier are :
Mitsu- Construction of aluminum spherical tanks,
and
 Application of New Construction Method to Aluminum Spherical Tanks for LNGC 493

*
A B C D MHZ

Fig. 1 Comparison of production procedure of spherical tank

Special outfitting related to handling of to be received steadily. From the standpoint of

LNG construction capacity, construction of two ships
Spherical tank construction methods can largely per year seems adequate for the time being. On
be classified into the following three categories the other hand, C and D companies have been
as is clear from Fig. 1. effectively using the existing facilities for con
One-block construction method struction of tanks.
Two-segment subassembly There is a view that tanks should be built
grand assembly to sphere indoors in order to achieve the required quality .
(A company) However, several shipyards make it a rule to
Two-segment subassembly—ring assembly- construct tanks outdoors, and the grounds for
-tank assembly thinking that indoor work is absolutely neces-
(B company) sary from the standpoint of quality are not
Ring assembly method completely clear. Examining the effects of exter-
1/2-ring fit-up-1/4-ring subassembly nal environmental conditions upon assembly
ring assembly-ank assembly and welding, we judged it is feasible to construct
(C company) tanks outdoors if necessary countermeasures were
Three-sections construction method taken. We studied what effects an extensive
1/4-ring subassembly-ring assembly facility investment will have at the present stage
three-sections assembly upon construction efficiency and the quality level
(D company) to be achieved, and reached a conclusion that it
Four-segment subassembly was the best to make the effective use of the
three-sections assembly existing modern facilities of our Koyagi Works.
(Mitsubishi Heavy Industries) We made a comparative study in respect of
Each of these methods has its own unique quality and construction efficiency as to whether
characteristics. The main factors which influenc- to construct spherical tanks in one piece or in
ed out decision on the construction method are sections in Koyagi Works, and found it desirable
quality, investment in facilities, construction to construct them in three sections. When the
efficiency, number of ships on order and construc- three-sections construction method is adopted ,
tion capacity. each section must be welded together on board
As regards construction facilities, the one- the ship, but we arranged to perform the master
block construction method as used by A com- seam welding, which is only less than 10% of
pany required a enormous facility investment the total welding length, in exactly the same
including construction of new housing, and poses environmental conditions as indoors by schedul-
a high risk unless orders for ships are expected ing it after installation of the tank cover. The:
 494 日本 造 船 学 会 論 文 集 第 152 号

Fig. 2 Production tolerances for LNG tank (Example)

three sections construction method made it As regards the accuracy of tank volume, the
possible to construct tanks without any modifi- required accuracy level of each tank must be of
cation to the existing facilities of Koyagi Works. an extremely severe value in order to attain the
The points to be considered in constructing guaranteed cargo carrying capacity while minimiz-
spherical tanks are the accuracy control of the ing an surplus tank volume. Incidentally, when
spherical tanks and quality of welding joints the tank girth length is 30 mm shorter uniformly,
(welding quality). The accuracy of tanks is there will be a shortage of 20 m3 in a 25,000 m3
twofold ; accuracy of tank volume and accuracy tank. In the case of Al 5083-0 material used for
of tank form which is important by strength the tanks as shown in Table 1, the 10-meter
reason. girth length varies by 2.6 mm in every tempera-
 Application of New Construction Method to Aluminum Spherical Tanks for LNGC 495

ture change of 10•Ž. Therefore, what accuracy ed.

control method is to be developed is an important The most important points in element tech-
task as well as establishment of the measuring niques are bending and bevelling techniques.
technique. As regards the amount of deformation We succeeded in raising the accuracy level con-
allowable from the viewpoint of tank strength, siderably by developing the NC press bender and
relatively many factors have been published, and the NC bevelling machine. As for the quality of
they are considered reasonable when various welding joints, we achieved nearly perfect weld-
elements in construction are taken into account. ing edges and thorough going advanced training
We established the accuracy standards as shown and individual control of more than 100 qualified
in Fig. 2 taking into account our strength calcula- welders. The problems and remedies related to
tion results and the construction accuracy level welding will be reported briefly in a later sec-
achieved in tests. What effects will these ac- tion.
curacy standards have on the construction effici- In constructing spherical tanks, the accuracy
ency ? Needless to say, a high accuracy of seg- of segments was achieved with the NC bevelling
ments and assembly make it possible to reduce machine, and in the assembly stage, three- and
unnecessary time for repairs and so on, and in four-segment assembly was performed, using a
view of the quality level required of the spherical simple assembly method with the tilting assembly
tank, it is necessary to achieve a much higher pedestal as the dimensional standard. In assembl-
accuracy standard one level above the accuracy ing the ring and the sections, we adhered to an
standards for the conventional hull construction ; assembly method using the accuracy of the
therefore, it must be said that a decrease in ac- assembly pedestal as the standard, making
curacy level will have an extremely great effect. adjustment for effects of temperature change
In order to attain with ease the accuracy level and assembly welding. This made it possible to
required of the spherical tank construction, it is reduce unnecessary work during assembly work.
evident that the accuracy of each segment (petal) As regards the quality control system during
is more important than anything else. the tank construction, we throughly implemented
In one shipyard, the accuracy level of each the quality assurance system, and took extra
segment is less than 2 mm in length, and in other precautions for verification of work. The quality
respects, error ranges exceeding 3 mm are the control system used this time is a piece-by-piece
standard ranges. What consequences does this control, and integrated stage-by-stage control
have in the assembly and welding stages ? As and also the vertical control from the material
seem from a comparison of spherical tank con- forming stage to the completion of tanks.
struction methods adopted by various ship- 2.2 Block Division
yards in Fig. 1, assembly and welding work on Aluminum was chosen as the material of
the ground, indoor work and the size of blocks spherical tanks at the wishes of the users and the
are limited. This is not desirable from the stand- ship owners. We had compared it with 9% Ni
point of the efficient construction method used steel, studied in detail which may be advantage-
in the conventional shipbuilding process. An ous in cost and construction method, and made
increase in volume of work on the ground will it clear that there is no problem with either
necessarily improve construction efficiency and material as far as the construction method is
lead to stabilized quality. Therefore, an increase concerned. Table I shows the chemical composi-
in the accuracy of every segment (petal) will tions and mechanical properties of Aluminum
necessarily improve the conditions of segment 5083-O.
joints and the efficiency of welding, which will What is essential from the viewpoint of con-
lead to facilitation of ring assembly and grand struction efficiency is a small number of seg-
assembly in the subsequent processes. Con- ments of spherical tanks, a small plate thickness,
sidering assembly efficiency and facility utiliza- and a small number of tanks. The number of
tion rate, we made it a standard to use three- segments is limited by the manufacturing capa-
segment and four-segment subassemblies. This city of the material suppliers and the processing
was expected to increase the application ratio of capacity of our shipyard. Major manufactures
the high current MIG welding method in flat of thick aluminum plates are major U.S. com-
position and improve the work efficiency and panies and several Japanese companies, and the
quality. Our detailed research shows that in materials made by the former were found superior
applying the high current MIG welding method, by a test we conducted around 1970. However,
it is desirable to maintain the welding joint gap we newly conducted market research this time,
within 1 mm. Therefore, we established element and found that the materials made in Japan
techniques so that the target of the work ac- were very good in quality and cleanliness and
curacy standards shown in Fig. 2 will be achiev- were more advantageous when economy and
 496 日本 造 船 学会 論 文 集 第 152 号

Table 1 Chemical compositions and mechanical properties of Aluminum 5083- O

level of segments and forming capacity outside

our shipyard, we reached a conclusion that it was
advisable to buy flat plates and form them by
ourselves.
Fig. 4 shows the above-mentioned basic con-
struction method developc-d by stage.

3. Development of Construction
Method by Stage

3.1 Forming Stage

Fig. 5 shows a comparison of different com-
panies' methods of forming segments of spherical
tanks. As seen from this figure, some U.S. ship-
yards purchase trapezoidal plates and hot-form
them. For welding edge preparation, they adopt
a method using portable bevelling machines and
guide rails. Another U.S. supplier performs cold
forming with a 3,000 ton press, and make edge
preparations with NC plasma cutting machines
and portable bevelling machines. As the forming
method which is an important point in building
spherical tanks, the hot forming seems advantage-
ous from the standpoint of accuracy, but it
should be evaluated in relation to the invest-
ment in facilities. Although cold forming is a
standard method, it is not easy to cold form
wide and thick plates within a strict accuracy
range in a short time, and it would be necessary
to accumulate techniques and knowhow to do it
successfully. An ideal forming method would
be to cut flat plates, bevel and then form them,
Fig. 3 Tank division but since the amount of spring back and elonga
tion and contraction due to forming operations
are not constant, there is no alternative but to
steady supply was taken into account. Con- make edge preparations after forming plates.
sidering the maximum width of plates produced Therefore, we conducted systematic experi-
in Japan and our processing capacity, we decided ments to find how to improve forming accuracy
to divide spherical tanks into blocks as shown in and keep the accuracy of segment dimensions
Fig. 3. As compared with some U.S. shipyard, within the allowable range, and as a result,
the number of segments is greater, which is developed and put into practical use the NC
because there is a limit to the size of Japanese press bender :Mitsubishi type three-line press;
plates and tapered plates are not used. One of for bending operation and the NC bevelling
the points in purchasing plates is whether to buy machine for bevelling operation. With these
flat plates or formed plates. After making a study machines we could achieve an accuracy higher
with priority given on improvement in accuracy than the target value.
 Application of New Construction Method to Aluminum Sphericaf Tanks for LNGC 497

Fig. 4 Production procedure of spherical tank (No. 1)

As shown in Fig. 5, we purchased trapezoidal The Mitsubishi type three-line press machine
plates mainly to minimize scrappage and cut has three lines of press heads, with ten pairs
them into the specified shapes with NC plasma of heads, at top and bottom, on each line, and
cutting machines. The plasma cutting machines can be set at any desired radius of carvature.
are of the air plasma type which had previously The machine has an arithmetric formula built in,
been used for cutting steel plates. The plasma which is preprogrammed to be obtained the desir-
cutting machines were also used for marking of ed radius of carvature, so that bending operation
various lines, which were kept to the required can be performed by feeding initial values cor-
minimum. responding to the shape and thickness of seg
 498 日本 造 船 学 会 論 文 集 第 152 号

Fig. 4 Production procedure of spherical tank (No. 2)

ments. Plates to be bent are checked for dimen- that the curvature of segments is not 100% ac-
sional accuracy on the accuracy measuring curate, the machine is provided, on the support
device, and are finished to the final dimensions bed, with the vacuum support stand to maintain
with the NC bevelling machine. The machine the curvature radius of spherical tanks. NC
has two sets of bevelling heads which can be put control is performed on the plane (x, y axes)
to work simultaneously. In order to shorten only, and the copying system is used for the verti-
loading and unloading time and thereby increase cal control (z axis). The bevelling accuracy was
the bevelling time ratio, the machine is provided held within 0.25 mm in dimensional error and 2°

with bevelling heads in two stages. Considering degree in angle; as a result, the gap at the joint
 Application of New Construction Mlethod to Aluminum Spherical Tanl, T.NGC 499

A B C MHI

Fig. 5 Fabrication methods Of segments

Fig. 6 NC press bender F g. 7 NC bevelling machine

between two plates was kept less than 0.5 mm. tion of welding distortion, but the high curreilt
and the segments for spherical tanks for two MIG welding method was developed which was
ships have already been processed to the aimed capable of keeping welding distortion withIl
accuracy. Fig. 6 shows the NC press bender an allowable limit, and a procedure for correctinh.,.
welding distortiom was established in case weld-
(Mitsubishi type three-line press), and Fig. 7
the NC bevelling machine (Mitsubishi planoma). ing distortion should occur.
3.2 Assembly Stage The aPpllcation ratio of the high current MIG

The decisive factor of the spherical tank as- welding niethod reached about 56% of all weld-
sembly method would be to increase the ratio of ing length of about 2,000 m/sphere, thcreby
work to be done in the assembly stage as much achieving a remarkable reduction in the spherical

as possible within the range in which ring assem- tank assembly time while achieving nearly 100%

bly and block assembly can be carried out perfect welding quality. Figs. 8 and 9 show a
smoothly. We reviewed two-segment (petal) comparison of the application ratio and welding

subassembly method which had been com- efficiency by welding method. It can be seen

monly used in the past, compared and analyzed from the figures that the increase in the ratio of

the possibility of three- or four-segment sub- work on the ground and the increase in the size

assembly through an improvement in accuracy of block made a great contribution. Assembly

level, and reached a conclusion that they were and welding were performed on positioners

practicable from the standpoints of accuracy and shown in Fig. 10. The positioners which we made

quality. An increase in the number of segments and used this time can be operated with single-

in subassembly is liable to cause difficulty in. shaft control and can be held at any desired

adjustment of dimensional accuracy and correc- inclination angle within 6•} 1 degrees when weld
 500 日本 造 船 学会 論 文 集 第 152 号

Fig. 10 Positioning pedestal for assembly

stage

the inaccuracy of welding edges was less than

1 mm, and variations of girth length and other

dimensions were less than 1.5 nun. The effect on

welding quality of coexistance of work on steel

and on aluminum had qualitatively been discus-

sed but its quantitative effect was not clear.

We made various experimental studies of this

matter to work out countermeasures for practical

application, and found that the effect of simul-

taneous work on steel and aluminum was much

smaller than expected. We allocated an area

Fig. 8 Application of welding method exclusively for work to be done on aluminum

after bevelling process to prevent unnecessary

troubles, and established the allowable limit

values for practical application, quantitatively

examining the effect of steel particles and other

foreign substances on the high current MIG

welding.

Development and practical use of jigs contrib-

uted to smooth execution of work in subassem-

bly, ring assembly and grand assembly stages.

In cutting, bevelling and grinding operations,

portable jigs played a great role in production

schedule, quality and efficiency.

3.3 Ring Assembly and Grand Assembly

After three-segment subassembly and four-

segment subassembly were finished, the equa-

torial ring, northern and southern hemisphere

sections were assembled in the grand assembly

shop. As shown in Fig. 4, the equational section

requires the most work, with the equatorial ring

of 156 mm thick plates, and is connected to the

hull structure through the skirt. Therefore

the accuracy of the equatorial ring is not only

the most important point in the construction of

Fig. 9 Comparison of welding efficiency
spherical tanks but also needs to be finished to

the severest level at the joint with the hull

ing operations are carried out. Each kind of structure.

As shown in Fig. 2, the actual deformation of

positioners was made separately for two-segment
subassembly, four-segment subassembly and the assembled ring was less than •}20 mm on

poler segment subassembly. At the time of set-up, diameter in the standard range. One of the
 ApplicnLtioll of New Construction Method
Fig. 11 Grand assembly pedestal
reasons why this figure was aimed at was to
prevent problems from arising at the joint be-
tween the reinforced part of the hall structure
and the skirt of the aluminum spherical tank.
For this purpose, in the equatorial ring assembly
too, each segment was fully checked for accuracy
and was finished taking into account welding
deformation and contraction. As the result,
errors of girth length were less than 30 mm.
For other petals than equatorial itself, adjusting
plates were provided so that final adjustment of
girth length could be made in the final assembly
stage but such -measure performed their func-
tion in the first spherical tank only and were
almost unnecessary to the second and subsequent
spherical tanks. An assembly method using an
grand assembly pedestal as the reference was
adopted because the most important control
point in the final assembly of spherical tanks is
girth length accuracy, and the spherical tanks
are of the skin structure. With this method,
nearly exact shape and girth length were obtain-
ed, but it is no easy job to keep the error of girth
length within 30 mm in such a. large structure.
Table 2 Example
to Aluminum Spherical Tamks for LNGC 501
It goes without saying that minute care is mces-
sary taking into account the effects of tempera-
ture changes, error of measuring equipment and
welding contraction, etc.
Welding in this stage involves difficult elements
especially, the accuracy of welding joints have
a great effect in horizontal welding. Therefore.
adjustments were made to minimize errors of
girth length, offset, etc., and satisfactory welds
were obtained. Fig. 11 shows the assembly pedes-
tal.
4. Welding Technique
4.1 Selection of Welding Method
The MIG welding method is generally used
to weld Al 5083 material. We used a high
current AEG welding method in the assembly
stage, three- and four-plate subassembly. In the
final assembly and the skirt assembly stages, we
used the narrow-groove MIG welding method we
developed as well as the ordinary MIG welding
method, as shown in Fig. 8. A comparison of
the mechanical efficiencies (excluding set-up) of
these methods is shown in Fig. 9. This figure
reveals what a great effect the extended applica-
tion of the high current MEG-welding method had
upon the improvement of welding efficiency. The
application of the narrow-groove MIG welding
method contributed to the improvement in
efficiency of vertical and horizontal welding. The
ratio of automatic welding methods applied to
the spherical tanks proper was 97% and the
ratio of the high current MIG welding method
reached 56%. As for the welding quality, we
first anticipated repair welding of several percent,
but thanks to improvement in welding equip-
ment and in accuracy of welding edges and to
advanced training of welders, welding defects
which actually occurred were less than one
percent in terms of the number of X-ray films
of welding condition
 502 日本 造 船 学 会論 文 集
taken. Defects were all blowholes, which were
repaired by welding to the perfect quality. Table
2 shows an example of typical welding condi-
tions.
4.2 Problems and Remedies in Welding
It is known from various literatures that the
working environments have a great effect on
welding of aluminum materials. We conducted
a thorough investigation into all factors which
seemed to have an effect on welding quality.
Since the details of this investigation will be
reported at another opportunity, only the con-
clusion is briefly mentioned below. First, high
temperature and humidity of the atmosphere had
little effect upon the high current NHGwelding,
and tended to cause blow-holesin the ordinary
MIG welding, especially in the horizontal weld-
ing. To prevent them, it was necessary to heat
cooling water (torch), pre-flow shield gas, and
dehumidity of wires. There is a literature which
reports that a humidity of 85% is the upper
limit permissible for welding, but according to
our experiments, the upper limit varies with
temperature and absolute humidity.
In regard to the effect of various kinds of dust
and dirt, the degree of effects of iron dust and
welding fumes was examined since aluminum
materials were worked on in the shop previously
used for work on iron and steel materials, and
as a result, it was found out that there was no
problem if welding conditions (protection of
temporary parts, etc.) were selected in a proper
range. As a matter of course, cleaning of petals
and welding edges was carried out as part of
the established work system. Grooves for the
high current MIG welding need sti act checking
since foreign matter is liable to fail into them.
As regards the effect of wind, the level which
had no effect on welding quality was about 0.5 m/s
although it had relation to the constinetion of
tin. welding torch and gas flow.
5. Quality Control
5.1 Control Method
The objectives of quality control in spherical
tank construction are, needless to say, to secure
the required tank volume, prevent tank deform-
ation for s*rength reason and prevent foreign
matter from entering the tanks. We thoroughly
conducted quality assurance programs for ac-
curacy, welding quality and surface cleanliness,
etc. Besides the stage-by-stage control by the
exclusive line organization for aluminum spherical
tank construction, a direct staff responcsibleto
accuracy and welding was assigned, and every
piece and part were thoroughly followed up in
all stages from the start of marking to comple-
tion of spherical tanks. Therefore, in all stages
第 152 号
from designing, material inspection, transport
storage, forming, assembly, measurement, inspec-
tion, etc., a fine mesh of quality assurance system
was set up, so that anything which did not con-
form to the standards in one stage would not
move to the next stage, which is, as it were,
100% check system. To carry out this system
smoothly, necessary measures were taken such
as development and application of element
techniques.
Figs. 12 shows an example of studies on surface
protection of aluminum tank by FTA.
5.2 Accuracy Standards and Results
Fig 2 shows the accuracy standards for tank
conLtiuction and the results 'the accmacy
standards w ere set up taking into account all
deformations anticipated donut; the construc-
tion process and the standard \allies w hick could
be permitted from the standpoint of design The
accuracy standards is ere developed from the
final process back to the preceding processes,
and the accuracy le\ el to be achievel in each
stage was determined. The target shown in
Fig. 2 is what we set up as the standard range.
The target values for the diameter errors of the
three tank blocks were severe, which were dictat-
ed by the tolerances for STJ (structural transi-
tion joint), that is, the joint bete cen steel and
aluminum skirt structures, and the earlier the
construction process, the severer the accuracy.
Thus, it can be recognized how important the
accuracy of each petal is. The errors of the girth
length of spherical tanks were us the range of
10-20 mm, so it can be said that there was
vintually no error in the tank diameter. The
accuracy of tank joalt, with the hull structure
is as also satisfactory
5.3 NDI Standards and Results
As the NDI standards for s erilying the quality
of welds, the NV rules were generally used in
the past This time, however, we conducted
many tests and as a result, adopted an inspec-
tion method mainly using VT as shown in Table
3. The inspection standanls were approved by
NK. and the ship-owners. In the case of the NV
rules calling for an mspecirm method mainly
using RT, cracks and insufficient fusion are
difficeilt to detect with RT; therefore, we decided
to use an inspection method mainly using UT
combned with RI whick is superior in detecting
spherical defects such as blownoles Details of
the applicat ion standards of the inspection
method will be reported separately
The ratio of welds winch passed the initial
inspection reached 99% (the first ship), and al-
though blow holes are liable to occur in the
horizontal automatic welding and semi-automatic
welding, cracks or insunicient fusion did not
 503
Application of New Construction Method to Aluminum Spherical Tanks for LNGC
 504 日本 造 船 学会 論 文 集 第 152 号

Table 3 Non-destructive test plan and inspection result

In addition to visual inspection, the followings are to be applied

Inspection result (Initial data)

Total 99.0%

occur at all. Table 3 shows non-destructive test standing problems were solved by thorough
plan and inspection result. advanced verification. In order to achieve further
improvement in construction efficiency and
6. Concluding Remark
stabilized quality, we will continue to make
This paper has presented an outline of the con- various technical improvements. Since there
struction method of spherical tanks. The con- are many things to do including expanded ap-
struction method has been determined through plication of the narrow-groove welding method,
the earnest efforts of our naval architects exerted we intend to steadily accumulate technical im-
over many years, and the construction of the provements. Though the brief description, we
tanks has been progressing very smoothly. In hope that this paper would be helpful in the
implementing this construction method, out- field of aluminum tank construction.
 Application of New Construction Method to Aluminum Spherical Tanks for NLGC 505

Acknowledgements CATION OF 41/2 PERCENT Mg-ALUMI-

The study of the construction method was NUM ALLOY-WELDING AND INSPEC-
conducted with the assistance and cooperation of TION, IIW,1976, MTC.
many people, and the authors wish to express 7) Y. Murata, I. Yonekura, S. Minahata:
their appreciation to Mr. M. Kanayama. Director, Non-destructive Test of Welding Joints in
General Manager of Nagasaki Shipyard & Engine Al-Alloy LNG Spherical Tanks, Kawaju
Works, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (M.H. Giho, No. 64, August, 1976.
I.), Dr. R. Nagamoto of Nagasaki Shipyard & En- 8) A Gromholt : Fertigung und Montage
gine Works, Mr. M. Ono and Mr. N. Ito- groBer Kugelformiger Tanks fur den Schiffs
-transport verflussigter Erdgase ,Vorget-
yama of Ship Engineering Dept., M.H.I. of our
Head Office for their kind assistance and advice. ragen auf der GroBen SchweiBtechnischen
Tagung 1977 des Deutschen Verbandes
References fur SchweiBtechnik (DVS) Essen, Septem
1) P. Takis Veliotis : A Solution to the Series ber, 1977.
Production of Aluminum LNG Spheres, 9) J. Nozaki, K. Nagamoto, M. Kurokawa,
The Society of Naval Architects and Marine K. Iwamoto, Y. Ito: Non-destructive
Engineers, November, 1977. inspection of welding joints in Aluminum
2) Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. : LNG Spherical tanks, Presented in the autumn
Carrier by Kawasaki, September, 1978. meeting of The West-JAPAN SOCIETY
3) The special issue of LNG ships, Bulletin OF NAVAL ARCHITECTS,1982.
of The Society of Naval Architects of Japan, 10) R.Nagamoto, E. Sakai, H. Takeda, S.Oba:
Vol. 631, Jan., 1982. Prevention of packling Phenomina Gccur-
4) M. Mizuno, K. Minoda, A. Sakaguchi : ring to Aluminum Alloy thicker plate
Welding of Aluminum and Aluminum welding loints by using High current MIG
Alloy, Yosetsuzensho No. 13 by Sanpo weldillg method, Presented in the autmmn
in 1979. lneeting of Japan Nvelding society,1982.
5) BERG A-FINSNES O. F.:Quality As- 11) H. Nito, E. Sakai, T. Hayashida, S. Mori-
surance inthe buildingof welded Aluminum uchi : Prevention of blow hole in the con-
Tanks for Shipboard Transportation of ventional MIG weldillg joints of Aluminum
LiquefiedNatural Gas, Technical paper by Alloy thicker plate. Presented in the
DET NORSKE VERITAS, Norwav. Autum meeting of Japan Welding society,
6) H. Wintermark CRYOGENIC APPLI- 1982.