Calculation method for calculating dimensions of spacer elements for constructing a storage facility for liquid products

Abstract

The invention relates to a calculation method (400) for calculating the dimensions of spacer elements (40) for constructing a storage facility (1) for liquid products comprising a load-bearing structure (10) provided with an interior space (11) defined by load-bearing walls (12) and a closed tank (20) placed in the interior space (11) of said load-bearing walls (12). The calculation method (400) is based on iteratively reducing the dimensions of the spacer elements (40) under the constraints of tolerance criteria, including flatness criteria limiting the deformation of flat facets (224) of the closed tank (20).

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to the construction of a storage facility for liquid products, and more particularly to the calculation of the dimensions of spacer elements for the construction of a storage facility for liquid products comprising a load-bearing structure having an interior space defined by a load-bearing wall and a closed tank located within the interior space of the load-bearing wall.

[0002] The tank may be a sealed insulated tank for storing and / or transporting liquefied gas at low temperature, such as a tank for transporting liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) having a temperature between -50°C and 0°C, or a tank for transporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) at about -162°C under atmospheric pressure. These tanks may be installed on shore or on floating structures. In the case of floating structures, the tank may be for transporting liquefied gas or for containing liquefied gas used as fuel to propel the floating structure.

[0003] In one embodiment, the liquefied gas is LNG, i.e. a mixture with high methane content stored at atmospheric pressure and at a temperature of about -162°C. Other liquefied gases are possible, in particular ethane, propane, butane or ethylene, but also hydrogen. The liquefied gas can also be stored under pressure, for example at a relative gauge pressure of 2 to 20 bar, in particular at a relative gauge pressure of about 2 bar. There are various techniques by which the tanks can be manufactured, in particular in the form of integral membrane tanks or free-standing tanks.

[0004] Alternatively the sealed tank may be a sealed tank for storing and / or transporting liquid products such as crude oil or refined oil, in particular kerosene, diesel or gasoline, at normal pressure and temperature. [Background technology]

[0005] WO 2020 / 193584 describes a method for constructing a sealed, insulated tank on a load-bearing wall. A number of insulating blocks are arranged and fixed to the inner surface of the load-bearing wall. Shims and beads of mastic are arranged between the insulating blocks and the load-bearing wall. The shims and beads of mastic can compensate for the lack of flatness of the inner surface of the load-bearing wall, thereby providing an insulating barrier with a satisfactory flatness for supporting the sealing membrane of the tank. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The invention is based on a method for calculating the dimensions of spacer elements for constructing a storage facility for liquid products, comprising a load-bearing structure with an interior space defined by load-bearing walls and a closed tank placed in the interior space of said load-bearing walls. Another idea is based on the invention to calculate the dimensions of the spacer elements iteratively, more specifically by reducing the dimensions of the spacer elements iteratively under the constraints of tolerance criteria, including flatness criteria limiting the deformation of flat facets provided on the tank.

[0007] The invention therefore provides a method for calculating the dimensions of spacer elements for constructing a storage facility for liquid products, comprising a load-bearing structure having an internal space defined by load-bearing walls and a closed tank installed in the internal space of said load-bearing walls, said method comprising: The calculation method is executed by a computer, obtaining three-dimensional position measurements of the load-bearing wall; determining an initial position of the tank within the interior space of the load-bearing structure based on the position measurements, the initial position including an initial position of a peripheral wall of the tank, the peripheral wall having a plurality of flat facets forming a polygonal prism having a convex polygon as a directrix and a generating line perpendicular to the directrix in the initial position, For each said flat facet, defining positioning lines defining the locations of adjacent wall modules for constructing the peripheral wall of the tank; determining, based on the position of the positioning lines, setting lines extending perpendicular to the planar facets and between the planar facets and the load-bearing wall, the setting lines being arranged so as to intersect at least one of the setting lines with each location of the wall modules, and representing the position of a spacer element located between each of the wall modules and the load-bearing wall when the peripheral wall of the tank is in its final position; Calculating an initial dimension of the set line based on the position measurement result of the load-bearing wall; iteratively reducing the dimensions of the set lines to bring the wall modules closer to the load-bearing wall until they reach the final position on the peripheral wall of the tank, subject to tolerance criteria including flatness criteria limiting deformation of the flat facets; Includes.

[0008] With this arrangement, the dimensions of the spacer elements can be calculated to reduce them as much as possible while still satisfying the tolerance criteria, thereby reducing the dead space between the peripheral wall of the tank and the load-bearing wall, which limits the deformation of the flat facets so that the peripheral wall of the tank is sufficiently flat in its final position, for example to support a sealing membrane.

[0009] The calculation method is performed by a computer, for example by a suitable computer program executed by the computer. Such an arrangement allows a user to obtain the dimensions of the spacer members automatically, without human intervention other than that for the purpose of pre-specifying the acceptance criteria. All or part of the above position measurements may be entered manually by a user, or may be entered into a computer program in computer readable form.

[0010] In an embodiment, the above calculation method may include one or more of the following features:

[0011] In one embodiment, iteratively decreasing a dimension of the setting line comprises: a) selecting a set line; b) reducing a dimension of a selected one of the set lines to a reduced dimension; c) checking by said calculation whether said acceptance criteria are met, maintaining said reduced size obtained in step b) if said acceptance criteria are met, and cancelling the reduction in size made in step b) if said acceptance criteria are not met; d) checking whether there is at least one setting line that has not yet been selected, and if there is at least one setting line that has not yet been selected, performing steps a) to c) for the setting line that has not yet been selected, and if there is no setting line that has not yet been selected, checking whether the reduced dimension is maintained for at least one of the setting lines in step c), and if the reduced dimension is maintained for at least one of the setting lines in step c), performing steps a) to d) again, and if the reduced dimension is not maintained for at least one of the setting lines in step c), recording the dimension of the setting line in memory as the dimension of the spacer member; Includes.

[0012] In one embodiment, the dimension of the setting line is decreased by a predetermined amount.

[0013] In one embodiment, the acceptance criteria includes a lower limit criterion that keeps the dimension of the set line at or above a first predetermined lower limit.

[0014] In one embodiment, the acceptance criteria include a spacing criterion that maintains the distance between each wall module and the load-bearing wall in a direction perpendicular to the wall module at or above a second predetermined lower limit.

[0015] In one embodiment, the tolerance criteria includes a tilt criterion relating to the tilt difference between the tips of three adjacent aligned spacer members.

[0016] In one embodiment, the tolerance criteria include a twist criterion for the separation between each wall module and a mean plane of the wall module in a direction perpendicular to the wall module along the spacer member.

[0017] In one embodiment, determining the initial position of the peripheral wall of the tank comprises determining a reference value for an angle subtended by the flat facets at a corner edge separating the flat facets.

[0018] In one embodiment, the entire peripheral wall of the tank is constituted by adjacent flat wall modules, and the tolerance criteria include an angle criterion that the angle formed by two inclinations connecting the tips on either side of a corner edge of the two aligned spacer members closest to the corner edge must be within a range including a reference value of the angle at the corner edge.

[0019] In one embodiment, the wall module includes a dihedral wall module disposed at one of the corner edges to form a dihedral angle, the angle of the dihedral angle being equal to the reference value of the angle of the corner edge, and the acceptance criterion is: a tilt between a tip of the spacer member corresponding to the dihedral block and a tip of an adjacent spacer member; the inclination between the tip of the spacer member corresponding to the dihedral block and a point located at the dihedral angle of the dihedral block that is aligned with the spacer member; and a second slope criterion relating to the slope difference between the first and second slopes.

[0020] In one embodiment, the load-bearing structure further comprises a flat bottom load-bearing wall having dimensional tolerances; - obtaining three-dimensional position measurements of the load-bearing wall further comprises obtaining three-dimensional position measurements of the bottom load-bearing wall; the initial position of the tank further comprises a bottom flat facet defining an initial position of a bottom wall of the tank; -the calculation method further comprises: determining a bottom positioning line based on the positioning line, the bottom positioning line defining the location of adjacent bottom wall modules for forming the bottom wall of the tank; determining bottom setting lines extending perpendicular to the bottom planar facet and the bottom load support wall based on the positions of the bottom positioning lines, the bottom setting lines being arranged so as to intersect at least one of the bottom wall module locations and representing the position of a spacer member located between each bottom wall module and the bottom load support wall when the bottom wall of the tank is in a final position; Calculating an initial dimension of the bottom setting line based on the position measurement result of the bottom load support wall; iteratively reducing the dimensions of the bottom set line to bring the wall module closer to the bottom load-bearing wall until it reaches the final position of the bottom wall of the tank, subject to tolerance criteria including flatness criteria limiting deformation of the bottom flat facet; Includes.

[0021] In one embodiment, the wall module for constituting the peripheral wall of the tank has a rectangular outer contour, the positioning lines define a rectangular location of the wall module, and the setting lines are arranged so that at least four of the setting lines intersect with each of the rectangular locations of the wall module near the corners of the rectangular location.

[0022] In one embodiment, said wall module comprises means for fastening at least one metal sheet constituting the sealing membrane of said tank.

[0023] In one embodiment, the tank is a sealed, insulated tank.

[0024] In one embodiment, the wall module is an insulating block.

[0025] In one embodiment, each said insulation block comprises a block of polymer foam sandwiched between a cover sheet and a bottom sheet. In one embodiment, the block of polymer foam is a block of polyurethane foam, optionally reinforced with glass fibre. In one embodiment, the density of the polymer foam is in the range of 130-200 kg / m 3 In one embodiment, the cover sheet and the bottom sheet are made of plywood.

[0026] In one embodiment, the cover sheet comprises anchor plates for welding to the edges of the metal sheet to secure the metal sheet to the cover sheet.

[0027] In one embodiment, the peripheral wall of the tank has a plurality of flat facets that, in the initial position, form a polygonal prism having a regular convex polygon as a directrix.

[0028] In one embodiment, the load-bearing wall defines a polygonal prismatic or cylindrical surface having dimensional tolerances.

[0029] In one embodiment, the spacer member comprises a shim.

[0030] In one embodiment, the spacer members include anchor rods, hi one embodiment, the anchor rods secure the wall modules to the load bearing wall.

[0031] In one embodiment, obtaining a three-dimensional position measurement of the load-bearing wall includes using a scanning laser range finder to perform a three-dimensional survey of the position of a vertical load-bearing wall.

[0032] In one embodiment, the three-dimensional measurement is 2 cm 2 This is done with a resolution equal to every other point.

[0033] The present invention will be better understood and other objects, details, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of several specific embodiments of the present invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which the specific embodiments are given by way of non-limiting example only. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0034] [Figure 1A] FIG. 13 shows the initial position of the peripheral wall of the tank within the interior space of the load support structure. [Figure 1B] FIG. 1B is a view similar to FIG. 1A, showing an alternative load-support structure configuration; [Diagram 2] FIG. 1B shows a portion of the main load-bearing wall of the load-bearing structure, the flat facet of the peripheral wall of the tank when in the initial position, and the initial dimensions of the setting line when in the initial position of FIG. 1A. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing the dimensions of the setting lines when the circumferential wall of the tank wall is in its final position. [Figure 4A] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing each step of the calculation method of the present invention. [Figure 4B] FIG. 4B is a block diagram showing in detail one step of the calculation method of FIG. 4A. [Diagram 5] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing one manner of determining the initial dimensions of a setting line. [Figure 6] FIG. 1 shows adjacent flat wall modules for making up the peripheral wall of the tank, and spacer elements located between each wall module and the load-bearing wall when the peripheral wall of the tank is in its final position. [Figure 7] FIG. 13 is another view showing adjacent flat wall modules and spacer members. [Figure 8A] FIG. 6 shows the location of the setting lines shown in FIGS. 3A, 3B and 5 and the location of the positioning lines that define the location of the flat wall module. [Figure 8B] 11A and 11B are diagrams showing the inclination between the tips of adjacent spacer members in an aligned state. [Figure 9]FIG. 2 shows the average plane of a flat wall module and the separation distance between each wall module and the average plane along the spacer member in a direction perpendicular to the wall module. [Figure 10] FIG. 13 illustrates the slope between the tips of aligned adjacent spacer members on either side of a corner edge separating two flat walls of a tank. [Figure 11] FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment variant of the peripheral wall of the tank, in which the spacer elements are shims. [Figure 12] 3A-3C show possible constructions of a wall module of the first embodiment variant; [Figure 13] FIG. 2 shows the peripheral wall of a tank of a first embodiment variant at a corner edge separating two flat walls of the tank. [Figure 14] 5 is a partial cross-sectional view of a second embodiment variant of the peripheral wall of the tank, in which the spacer elements are anchor rods. [Figure 15A] FIG. 11 shows a possible configuration of the peripheral wall of a tank of a second embodiment variant at a corner edge separating two flat walls of the tank. [Figure 15B] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a dihedral block converted into a virtually flat block. [Figure 15C] FIG. 15C is a diagram showing calculation of the position of a point located at the dihedral angle of the dihedral angle block of FIGS. 15A and 15B. [Figure 15D] A view similar to FIG. 15C showing the inclination between the tips of aligned adjacent spacer members and the inclination between the tips of the spacer members and the tip of a point located at the dihedral angle of the dihedral angle block of FIGS. 15A and 15B. [Figure 16] 1 is a partial perspective view of a load support structure showing a portion of a bottom wall of the load support structure and a portion of a main load support wall of the load support structure; FIG. [Figure 17] FIG. 13 illustrates the tilt between the tips of aligned adjacent spacer members on either side of a corner edge separating the bottom wall and the main load bearing wall of a load bearing structure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0035] As stated above, the invention relates to the manufacture of a storage facility for liquid products, which in the following description will be designated by the reference number 1.

[0036] In one variant, the facility 1 is capable of storing liquefied gas, in particular liquefied natural gas (LNG) at a temperature of about -162°C and atmospheric pressure, or other liquefied gas. In another variant, the facility 1 is capable of storing other liquid products such as crude oil or refined oil, in particular kerosene, diesel or gasoline.

[0037] The equipment 1 first includes a load-supporting structure 10 and a sealed tank 20.

[0038] First, the load-bearing structure 10 is described. The load-bearing structure 10 comprises at least one load-bearing wall that defines a cavity for receiving the closed tank 20. In one embodiment, a main load-bearing wall 12 has a generally cylindrical geometric shape that surrounds said cavity. Such main load-bearing wall 12 can also be closed at least at one end in the guide direction by another load-bearing wall. In one embodiment, said main load-bearing wall 12 can extend between a bottom load-bearing wall and a cover load-bearing wall.

[0039] The installation 1 can be provided for coastal installation. In that case, the main load-bearing wall 12 is typically vertical, i.e., in a plane parallel to the direction of acceleration due to gravity, within the dimensional tolerances. The load-bearing structure 10 is made of concrete, for example. In a non-illustrated embodiment, the bottom load-bearing wall can be placed above ground, or it can be placed underground. In a non-illustrated embodiment, the load-bearing structure 10 comprises, at the end of the main load-bearing wall 12 opposite the bottom load-bearing wall, a cover load-bearing wall that closes an interior space defined by the bottom load-bearing wall and the vertical load-bearing wall 12. The cover load-bearing wall can support various items of equipment that can be used to transport liquid products from or to the interior space. The bottom load-bearing wall and / or the cover load-bearing wall can be flat, for example. However, the bottom load-bearing wall and the cover load-bearing wall can also have other shapes, in particular a spherical dome shape.

[0040] As another alternative, the installation 1 can be provided for installation on a floating structure such as a ship. In this case, the load-bearing structure 10 is part of a double hull included in the floating structure. The main load-bearing wall 12 can be non-vertical and can also have a guide direction perpendicular to the direction of acceleration due to gravity when the floating structure is at rest.

[0041] In the following, the case where the installation 1 is installed on a coast and the main load bearing wall 12 is vertical is considered in more detail. Therefore, the following description is based on a vertical load bearing wall 12. However, the following description is applicable to any orientation of the main load bearing wall 12 with respect to the direction of acceleration due to gravity.

[0042] FIG. 1A is a schematic cross-sectional view of a load-bearing structure 10 taken perpendicular to the vertical axis of a vertical load-bearing wall 12. In FIG. 1A, the vertical load-bearing wall 12 is shown in solid lines. The vertical load-bearing wall 12 forms a polygonal prism surface and is typically constructed using civilian engineering techniques. Thus, the vertical load-bearing wall 12 has a number of vertical panels 14, which are separated by corner edges 13. The position and orientation of the vertical panels 14 may exhibit dimensional deviations with respect to a set regular polygon. Also, as shown in FIG. 2, each vertical panel 14 may exhibit dimensional deviations with respect to an ideal flat shape. Such dimensional deviations may be due, for example, to dimensional tolerances of a specific construction.

[0043] In one variant, the vertical load-bearing wall 12 may form any convex cylindrical surface, such as a roughly circular surface with dimensional deviations from a circular shape, as shown in FIG. 1B. Such a load-bearing wall may be a natural cavity or may be a construction with high tolerances. More generally, however, the shape of the vertical load-bearing wall 12 may be less regular or more regular than the shape shown.

[0044] A sealed tank 20 (shown in dashed lines in Figures 1A and 1B) is intended to be located within the interior space 11 of the load supporting structure 10. The tank 20 has a vertical peripheral wall 22 opposite the vertical load supporting wall 12. In one embodiment not shown, the tank 20 further includes a bottom wall opposite the bottom load supporting wall and a cover wall opposite the cover load supporting wall.

[0045] The vertical peripheral wall 22 is made up of adjacent flat wall modules 30. In Fig. 3, the edge of the wall module 30 closest to the vertical load-bearing wall 12 is shown by a dashed line. Typically, the wall modules 30 are arranged in a number of vertical parallel rows. Spacer members 40 are arranged between the wall modules 30 and the vertical load-bearing wall 12 to compensate for the above-mentioned dimensional deviations.

[0046] The dimensions of the spacer members 40 must be minimized to maximize the interior volume of the tank and minimize the amount of material between the vertical load-bearing wall 12 and the vertical peripheral wall 22 while ensuring that the vertical peripheral wall 22 is sufficiently flat to support the sealing membrane that seals the tank 20.

[0047] Before describing a calculation method 400 that can solve these problems, the general principle is explained with reference to Figures 1A, 1B, 2 and 3. In these figures, the initial position 220 of the vertical peripheral wall 22 is shown in dashed lines. It should be noted that the distance between the initial position 220 and the vertical load-bearing wall 12 is greatly exaggerated in Figures 1A and 1B for the sake of clarity of the drawings.

[0048] The initial position 220 meets certain tolerance criteria, which will be described below. The initial position 220 is therefore deemed acceptable to ensure that the vertical perimeter wall 22 has sufficient flatness. However, the initial position 220 leaves a significant gap between the vertical perimeter wall 22 and the vertical load-bearing wall 12. This would result in a significant increase in the dimensions of the spacer member 40 if the vertical perimeter wall 22 were simply placed in the initial position 220, as shown in FIG. 2. Furthermore, if material needs to be placed between the vertical load-bearing wall 12 and the vertical perimeter wall 22 to ensure mechanical strength during construction of the tank 20, the volume of material used would also be significant.

[0049] Conversely, at the end of the calculation method 400, the reduced size of the spacer member 40 will be found when the vertical perimeter wall 22 is in the final position 320. This final position 320 meets the same tolerance criteria as the initial position 220, so the final position 320 also ensures that the vertical perimeter wall 22 is sufficiently flat. However, because the size of the spacer member 40 has been reduced, the volume of material disposed between the vertical load-bearing wall 12 and the vertical perimeter wall 22 is reduced, and the interior volume of the tank 20 is increased.

[0050] Each step of the calculation method 400 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 4A to 10.

[0051] The method 400 includes step 401 of obtaining three-dimensional position measurements of the vertical load-bearing wall 12. In one embodiment, this step 401 includes obtaining three-dimensional position measurements of the vertical load-bearing wall 12 at high resolution, e.g., 2 cm, using a scanning laser range finder. 2 It performs a three-dimensional survey of the position of the vertical load-bearing wall 51 with a resolution equal to every other point.

[0052] In step 402, an initial position 220 of the vertical circumferential wall 22 of the tank 20 is determined in the interior space 11 based on the position measurement obtained in step 401. In the initial position 220, the vertical circumferential wall 22 has a number of flat facets 224 forming a polygonal prism with a convex polygon as a directrix and a generating line perpendicular to said directrix. In a particular variant, the polygonal prism formed by the flat facets 224 has a regular convex polygon as a directrix. In one embodiment, the initial position 220 is obtained by searching for the position of the vertical circumferential wall 22 by numerical simulation under the constraints of one or more criteria, which may for example include the criterion of minimizing the space existing between the vertical circumferential wall 22 and the vertical load-bearing wall 12 of the tank 20.

[0053] After steps 401 and 402, the method 400 proceeds to step 403, which defines a positioning line 100. The positioning line 100 defines the location 130 of the wall module 30 as shown in Figure 8A.

[0054] In the illustrated example, the positioning lines 100 include vertical positioning lines 110 and horizontal positioning lines 120 perpendicular to the vertical positioning lines 110 to define a rectangular location 130 corresponding to the rectangular outer contour of the wall module 30. In one embodiment, the vertical positioning lines 110 are identified by identifying a vertical center vertical line of the flat facet 224 and placing the vertical positioning lines 110 at regular intervals along the vertical center vertical line. The horizontal positioning lines 120 are similarly identified by identifying a horizontal center horizontal line of the flat facet 224 and placing the horizontal positioning lines 120 at regular intervals along the horizontal center horizontal line.

[0055] After step 403, the method 400 proceeds to step 404 of determining setting lines 150 based on the position of the positioning lines 100. The setting lines 150 represent the positions of the spacer members 40 at the final positions 320. The setting lines 150 are positioned such that each location 130 of the wall module 30 is intersected by at least one setting line 150.

[0056] In the illustrated example, the setting lines 150 are arranged such that at least four of the setting lines 150 intersect each rectangular location 130 near the corners of the rectangular location. However, the number of setting lines 150 provided can be varied, particularly when the spacer members 40 are arranged at locations other than near the corners of each rectangular location 130.

[0057] After step 404, the method proceeds to step 405, where initial dimensions of the setting line 150 are calculated based on the position measurements of the vertical load-bearing wall 12 obtained in step 401, and then the dimensions of the setting line 150 are iteratively reduced to move the wall module 30 closer to the vertical load-bearing wall 12. The iterative reduction of the dimensions of the setting line 150 is constrained by tolerance criteria, including a flatness criterion that limits deformation of the flat facets 224.

[0058] In a particular variant, during step 405 the dimension of the setting line 150 is iteratively decreased by a predetermined amount δ.

[0059] Steps 403 , 404 and 405 are performed for each flat facet 224 .

[0060] One possible implementation of step 405 and example acceptance criteria are described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 4B-10.

[0061] In step 500, the height of the set line 150 is initialized so that the tolerance criteria are met. In one embodiment, shown diagrammatically in FIG. 5, the initialization of the dimensions of the set line 150 is performed as follows: The set line 150-1 where the vertical load-bearing wall 12 is closest to the flat facet 224 is identified and the dimension of this set line 150-1 is set to the minimum dimension l. min This minimum dimension l min is described below in step 503. The dimensions of the other set lines 150 are then set so that the acceptance criteria are met.

[0062] After initialization in step 500, the method proceeds to step 501 where a configuration line 150 is selected.

[0063] In step 502, the dimension of the setting line 150 selected in step 501 is decreased by a predetermined amount δ.

[0064] In step 503, the dimension of the setting line 150 reduced in step 502 is reduced to the minimum dimension l minVerify that the minimum dimension is within the range of 1. min is preset. For example, the minimum dimension may be one that allows the spacer member 40 to be prepared while still allowing the spacer member 40 to be manufactured and used. FIG. 6 shows the minimum dimension l when the spacer member 40 is a shim. min This will be described in detail below with reference to Figures 10 and 11. Figure 6 also shows a plurality of the above-mentioned predetermined portions δ.

[0065] In step 504, it is verified that the dimension of the setting line 150 reduced in step 502 satisfies a spacing criterion, which is a minimum spacing distance e 1 , between the corresponding wall module 30 and the vertical load-bearing wall 12 in a direction perpendicular to the wall module 30, at all points 39 on the lower edge of the wall module 30 for which position measurements of the vertical load-bearing wall 12 obtained in step 401 are available. min The minimum separation distance e min is preset. FIG. 7 shows the minimum separation distance e min 10 and 11, which are described in detail below.

[0066] In step 505, it is confirmed that the dimension of the setting line 150 reduced in step 502 satisfies a tilt criterion regarding the tilt difference α between the tips of three aligned adjacent spacer members 40. More specifically, it is confirmed that the tilt difference α remains below a threshold value 2A, where A is a preset magnitude.

[0067] 8A and 8B show an example of the calculation of the slope criterion. If the coordinates of the tips of three aligned set lines 150 are denoted as (x1,z1), (x2,z2), and (x3,z3) in a Cartesian reference coordinate system (x,z), where x is parallel to a line 190 (see FIG. 8A) connecting the three set lines 150, then the slope criterion is satisfied if the following inequality holds:

[0068]

number

[0069] In step 506, it is verified that the dimension of the setting line 150 reduced in step 502 satisfies a twist criterion, which relates to the separation distance between each corresponding wall module 30 and the average plane of that wall module in a direction perpendicular to that corresponding wall module 30 along the spacer member corresponding to that wall module 30.

[0070] FIG. 9 shows an example of the twist criterion. For one wall module 30 corresponding to a number of set lines 150, a mean plane 430 of the wall module 30 can be defined. The distances from this mean plane 430 to each set line 150 are d1, d2, d3, d4, . . . In order to facilitate understanding of FIG. 9, the ends of the set lines 150 at distances d2 and d4 from the mean plane 430 are above the mean plane 430, and the ends of the set lines 150 at distances d1 and d3 from the mean plane 430 are below the mean plane 430. The parts of the wall module 30 that are below the mean plane 430 are also shown with dashed lines. The twist criterion is considered to be satisfied if the quantity D=d1+d2+d3+d4, . . . is less than a predefined threshold value.

[0071] Although the acceptance criteria of steps 503-506 relate only to the setting line 150 corresponding to one flat facet 224, it may be desirable to ensure that the dimensions of the setting line 150 are sufficient to easily connect two adjacent flat facets 224 separated by a corner edge 225, as shown in FIG. 10.

[0072] To this end, in step 402, a reference value β of the angle separating the two flat facets 224 at the corner edge 225 is also defined (see FIGS. 1A and 10). The reference value β can be the same for all corner edges 225.

[0073] In step 507, the angle γ formed by the two inclinations P1, P2 connecting the tips of the two aligned spacer members 40 closest to the corner edge 225 on both sides of the corner edge 225 is calculated, and it is confirmed whether the angle γ satisfies an angle criterion. The angle criterion is considered to be satisfied if the angle γ is within a range including a reference value β. This range quantifies the allowable difference between γ and β, and the narrower this range is, the more the flat facet 224 is constrained to form an angle γ closer to the reference value β. By ensuring improved uniformity of angles between each facet, the mechanical connection of each facet is made easier, for example by allowing the use of standardized components.

[0074] 10 is a diagram showing the angle γ and one mode for calculating the angle γ. The distances between the tips of the spacer members 40 and the corresponding flat facets are dZ1, dZ2, dZ3, and dZ4, and the separation distance between each spacer member 40 is d 12 and d 34 This gives us the following formula:

[0075]

number

[0076] The criteria of step 507 are considered to be met if the absolute value of γ-β falls within a predetermined range.

[0077] If one of the acceptance criteria of steps 503-507 is not met, the method proceeds to step 508, where the reduction of the set line 150 performed in step 502 is cancelled. In other words, the set line 150 selected in step 501 is restored to the dimensions it had before step 502.

[0078] Conversely, if all of the acceptance criteria of steps 503-507 are met, the method proceeds to step 509 to validate the reduction of the set line 150 made in step 502.

[0079] After step 508 or 509, the method proceeds to step 510 to determine whether any unselected configuration lines 150 exist.

[0080] If there are unselected setting lines 150, the method proceeds to step 511 to select an unselected setting line 150, and then repeats steps 502-510 for this setting line 150. There are various ways in which the selection of the unselected setting line 150 in step 511 can be performed. In one variant, the selection is completely random. In another variant, the selection is limited to the setting lines 150 of one flat facet 224. In other words, step 511 continues to select setting lines 150 corresponding to a particular flat facet 224 as long as there are unselected setting lines 150 remaining in that particular flat facet 224.

[0081] If there is no unselected set line 150, it is checked in step 508 whether the reduction in dimension has been enabled for at least one set line 150. If the check result is negative, it is understood that it will be impossible to further reduce the dimension of the set line 150 without violating the tolerance criteria of steps 503 to 507, and the method proceeds to step 513, where the dimension of the set line 150 is recorded in memory as the dimension of the spacer member 40. Conversely, if the check result is positive, it is understood that there is a set line 150 among the set lines 150 whose dimension may be further reduced without violating the tolerance criteria of steps 503 to 507, and the method returns to step 501 to reselect a set line 150 and repeat steps 502 to 509.

[0082] In one variant, it is possible to use only some of the acceptance criteria of steps 503-507.

[0083] Each step of the calculation method 400 may be implemented in a suitable computer program executed by a computer. All or part of the position measurement results of step 401 may be entered manually by a user or may be entered into the computer program in a computer readable form.

[0084] The above principle can be applied to many types of tank walls with flat wall modules and spacer elements arranged between the flat wall modules and the load-bearing wall, two embodiment variants of such tank walls are described below.

[0085] Figures 11 to 13 show a first embodiment variant of the vertical peripheral wall 22. In this variant, the spacer elements 40 are in the form of shims. Figure 12 shows a cross-section at the centre of the wall module 30, and therefore the shims 40 are not shown in this figure.

[0086] The wall module 30 is in the form of an insulating block having a parallelepipedal overall shape. The corners of the block 30 are fixed to the vertical load-bearing wall 12 by anchoring members, the positions of which are shown in FIG. 10 by reference numeral 90. The shims 40 are located at or near such anchoring members. Moreover, the shims 40 are located below the block 30. The variable dimensions of the shims 40 thus allow compensation for lack of flatness of the vertical load-bearing wall 12.

[0087] Figure 12 shows in more detail the structure of the block 30. The block 30 is a block 32 of polymer foam, such as a block of polyurethane foam, optionally reinforced with glass fibre, possibly with a strength of 130-200 kg / m 3 The block 32 is sandwiched between a cover sheet 31 and a bottom sheet 33, which may be made, for example, of plywood.

[0088] 12, it can be seen that glass wool plugs 318 and / or blocks of polyurethane foam 319 can be placed between the blocks 30 to fill the gaps 990 formed between the blocks 30. Additionally, beads of mastic 98 can be placed between the blocks 30 and the vertical load bearing wall 12. A coating 99, such as a polymeric coating 99, can be applied to the surface of the vertical load bearing wall 12 prior to mating the blocks 30 and shims 40.

[0089] A metal sheet 171 is placed over the block 30 and its edges are welded by known techniques to form a hermetic membrane. In one embodiment (not shown), the metal sheet 171 can be fixed to the cover sheet 31 of the block 32 by welding its edges to a metal anchor plate that supports the cover sheet 31 of the block 32. The metal sheet 171 can have corrugations 172 to absorb the thermal contraction phenomenon caused by contact with a cryogenic liquid product such as LNG.

[0090] 13 shows a portion of a vertical peripheral wall 22 at the angle between two flat facets of said vertical peripheral wall 22. The angle of the vertical peripheral wall 22 is achieved simply by a connection (not shown) between two adjacent blocks 30.

[0091] The configuration in which the shim 40 is disposed below the block 30 as shown in FIG. 10 is merely one example, and the arrangement of the shim 40 relative to the block 30 can be different; for example, a shim 40 can be disposed at each corner of each block 30.

[0092] 6, additional shims 80 may be placed beneath each block 30 between the locations of shims 40. The dimensions of the additional shims 80 may be calculated based on the dimensions of shims 40 calculated by calculation method 400 above and the position measurements obtained in step 401.

[0093] Also, the spacer elements 40 can take other forms than shims. By way of example only, a second embodiment variant of the vertical peripheral wall 22 is shown diagrammatically in FIG. 14, in which the spacer elements 40 take the form of anchor rods. The wall modules 30 take the form of flat panels with an overall shape of a parallelepiped. In one embodiment, not shown, a metal sheet is placed above the wall module 30 and its edges are welded by known techniques to form a sealing membrane. For example, the metal sheet can be welded to an anchor plate provided on the wall module 30.

[0094] In this case, each panel 30 is provided with a rectangular fixing sheet 51, the corners of which are fixed by anchor rods 40. To do this, the fixing sheet 51 has counterbores 52 at its corners. The ends of the anchor rods 40 facing away from the vertical load-bearing wall 12 are inserted into through holes (not shown) in the bottom of the counterbore 52. In this way, the anchor rods 40 can be fixed to the bottom of the counterbore 52 by anchoring means (not shown) that keep each panel 30 in abutment towards the vertical load-bearing wall 12. After the panel 30 is installed on the vertical load-bearing wall 12, the remaining space 94 between the panel 30 and the vertical load-bearing wall 12 can be filled with a cement slurry or similar material, which ensures the mechanical strength of the vertical perimeter wall 22 of the vertical load-bearing wall 12.

[0095] Although only a vertical peripheral wall 22 made only by adjacent flat wall modules 30 has been described above, in one variant, as shown in FIG. 15A, the vertical peripheral wall 22 can also comprise a dihedral block 660 arranged between the flat wall modules 30. This dihedral block 660 has a dihedral angle of angle β, where β is the reference value mentioned above. A spacer element 40, in this case a shim, is also arranged between said dihedral block 660 and the vertical load-bearing wall 12. The above principle can also be applied to a vertical peripheral wall 22 made in this way, provided that the presence of the dihedral block 660 is taken into account by modifying the calculation method 400 as follows:

[0096] In modifying the calculation method 400, in step 506, the twist criterion is adjusted to the setting line 150 corresponding to the spacer member 40 corresponding to the dihedral angle block 660. For this setting line 150, in order to calculate the mean plane 430, the tips of the two setting lines 150 located on the same side of the dihedral angle of the dihedral angle block 660 are virtually displaced by performing a rotation that virtually transforms the dihedral angle block 660 into a flat virtual block 660' as shown in Figure 15B. Then, the twist criterion is verified using this mean plane 430 as described above with reference to Figure 10.

[0097] Instead, the verification of the angle criteria in step 507 is not performed, and in step 507, it is confirmed whether or not the tilt criteria specific to the dihedral angle block 660 is satisfied only for the setting line 150 corresponding to the spacer member 40 corresponding to the dihedral angle block 660. The tilt criteria is as follows: the inclination between the tip of the spacer element 40 corresponding to the dihedral block 660 and the tip of the adjacent spacer element 40; - the inclination difference ζ between the tip of the spacer member 40 corresponding to the dihedral angle block 660 and a point 660P located at the dihedral angle of the dihedral angle block 660 and aligned with the spacer member 40 (Figures 15A, 15C and 15D). Specifically, it is verified that this slope difference ζ remains below a threshold 2B, where B is a preset magnitude. To facilitate the connection between the dihedral block 660 and the flat wall module 30, it is preferable to have B equal to A.

[0098] 15C and 15D are diagrams showing an example of calculation of the inclination reference specific to the dihedral angle block 660. First, referring to FIG. 15C, the position of point 66P is calculated. This is located at the intersection of position 960 of the dihedral angle block 660, taking into account the height of the spacer member 40 corresponding to the dihedral angle block 660, and the bisector 612 of the reference angle β. Next, referring to FIG. 15D, the coordinates of point 660P and the coordinates of the tips of the two setting lines 150 aligned with said point are respectively expressed as (x1, z1), (x2, z2), and (x p ,z p ) and x is parallel to the line 190 (see FIG. 8A ) connecting the two aligned setting lines 150, then the tilt criterion inherent in the dihedral angle block 660 is satisfied if the following inequality is satisfied:

[0099]

number

[0100] The principles explained above for the vertical peripheral wall 22 of the tank 20 can also be applied to a substantially flat bottom wall 23 of the tank 20, which is arranged against the bottom load bearing wall 19 of the load supporting structure 10. In figures 16 and 17 such a bottom load bearing wall 19 is shown diagrammatically.

[0101] 17, the bottom load-bearing wall 19 may exhibit dimensional deviations from an ideal planar shape. Such dimensional deviations may be due, for example, to dimensional tolerances of a particular construction.

[0102] 17 also shows the position of the bottom wall 23 of the tank 20 in dashed lines. The bottom wall 23 of the tank 20, like the vertical peripheral wall 22, is also made up of adjacent flat wall modules (not shown), which may be identical to the flat wall modules 30 constituting the vertical peripheral wall 22, and spacer elements (not shown) are arranged between the wall modules and the bottom load-bearing wall 19 in order to compensate for the above-mentioned dimensional deviations, which may be identical to the spacer elements 40 of the vertical peripheral wall 22.

[0103] As with the vertical peripheral wall 22, the dimensions of the spacer members must be minimized to maximize the interior volume of the tank and minimize the amount of material between the bottom load bearing wall 19 and the bottom wall 23 while ensuring that the bottom wall 23 is sufficiently flat to support the sealing membrane that seals the tank 20.

[0104] To do this, the calculation method 400 is modified as follows: In step 401, the position measurements obtained include a three-dimensional position measurement of the bottom load-bearing wall 19. - In step 402, an initial position of the bottom wall 23 is also determined in the interior space 11. This initial position is defined by the bottom planar facet 223 (see figure 17). In step 403, positioning lines 700 (see FIG. 16) are also defined, which define the locations 730 of the wall modules on the bottom wall 23. In an example embodiment, the positioning lines 700 are defined based on the positioning lines 100. For example, the positioning lines 700 include a first positioning line 710, which is an extension of the vertical positioning line 110 on the bottom load-bearing wall 19, and a second positioning line 720, which is perpendicular to the first positioning line 710, as shown in FIG. In step 404, setting lines 750 are also defined (see FIG. 17). The setting lines 750 represent the positions of the spacer members when the bottom wall 23 is in its final position, and similar to the setting lines 150, are arranged such that each location on the bottom wall 23 is intersected by at least one setting line 750. In step 405, the initial dimensions of the setting line 750 are also calculated based on the position measurements of the bottom load-bearing wall 19 obtained in step 401, and then the dimensions of the setting line 750 are iteratively reduced to bring the wall modules of the bottom wall 23 closer to the bottom load-bearing wall 19. The iterative reduction of the dimensions of the setting line 150 is performed under the constraints of tolerance criteria, including a flatness criterion limiting the deformation of the bottom flat facet 223.

[0105] To summarise, the calculation method 400 determines and processes the set line 150 of the vertical peripheral wall 22 of a tank 20 as well as the set line 750 of the bottom wall 23 of said tank 20 .

[0106] The acceptance criteria for the set line 750 are similar or identical to the acceptance criteria discussed above for the set line 150. Thus, the acceptance criteria for the set line 750 will not be discussed in detail.

[0107] However, to allow the bottom flat facet 223 and the flat facet 224 to be connected easily enough, in step 402, a reference value θ of the angle separating the bottom flat facet 223 and each flat facet 224 at the corner edge 225 is determined. The reference value θ can be the same for each corner edge 725 separating the bottom flat facet 223 and the flat facet 224.

[0108] The angle criterion already described above with reference to step 507 and Figure 10 is to calculate, for each corner edge 725, the angle φ (see Figure 17) formed by the two slopes PF, PV connecting the tips of the two aligned spacer members closest to that corner edge 725, and to check whether the angle φ falls within a range that includes the reference value θ.

[0109] In one variant, the connection between the bottom facet 223 and the plane facet 224 can be made by a dihedral block, similar to that described above with reference to Figures 15A-15D, by checking the setting lines 150 and 750 corresponding to the dihedral block against the tilt criteria specific to that dihedral block, as described above with reference to Figures 15A-15D.

[0110] Although the present invention has been described with reference to several specific embodiments, it is by no means limited to these embodiments, and it is very clear that the scope of the present invention includes all technical equivalents of the means described in this application and combinations thereof.

[0111] Use of the verbs "have", "comprise" or "include" and their conjugations does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those stated in a claim.

[0112] In the claims, any reference signs in parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A calculation method (400) for calculating dimensions of spacer elements (40) for constructing a storage facility (1) for a liquid product, the storage facility (1) comprising a load-bearing structure (10) having an interior space (11) defined by load-bearing walls (12) and a closed tank (20) installed in the interior space (11) of the load-bearing walls (12), comprising: The calculation method (400) is computer-implemented, obtaining (401) a three-dimensional position measurement of the load-bearing wall (12); determining (402) an initial position of the sealed tank (20) within the interior space (11) of the load-bearing structure (12) based on the position measurement results, including an initial position (220) of a peripheral wall (22) of the sealed tank (20), wherein the peripheral wall (22) in the initial position (220) has a plurality of flat facets (224) forming a polygonal prism surface having a convex polygon as a directrix and a generatrix perpendicular to the directrix; For each said flat facet (224): defining (403) positioning lines (100) that define the locations (130) of adjacent wall modules (30, 660) for forming the peripheral wall (22) of the closed tank (20); determining (404) setting lines (150) extending perpendicular to the flat facets (224) between the flat facets (224) and the load-bearing wall (12) based on the positions of the positioning lines (100), the setting lines being arranged so that at least one of the setting lines (150) intersects with each location (130) of the wall modules (30, 660), and representing the positions of spacer elements (40) located between each wall module (30, 660) and the load-bearing wall (12) when the peripheral wall (22) of the closed tank (20) is in its final position; calculating (405) an initial dimension of the setting line (150) based on the position measurement of the load-bearing wall (12); iteratively reducing (405) the dimension of the setting line (150) to bring the wall module (30, 660) closer to the load-bearing wall (12) until it reaches the final position of the peripheral wall (22) of the closed tank (20), subject to tolerance criteria, including flatness criteria limiting deformation of the flat facets (224); A calculation method (400) comprising:

2. Iteratively decreasing the dimension of the setting line (405) a) selecting (501, 510) a setting line (150); b) reducing (502) the dimension of the selected set line (150) to a reduced dimension; c) verifying that the acceptance criteria are met by the calculations (503, 504, 505, 506), and if the acceptance criteria are met, maintaining (508) the reduced dimensions obtained in step b), and if the acceptance criteria are not met, canceling (507) the reduction in dimensions made in step b); d) checking whether there is at least one configuration line that has not yet been selected; If there is at least one setting line that has not yet been selected, perform steps a) to c) for the setting line that has not yet been selected; If there are no setting lines that have not yet been selected, it is determined in step c) whether the reduced dimension is maintained for at least one of the setting lines (511); If the reduced dimension is maintained for at least one of the setting lines in step c), steps a) to d) are performed again; If the reduced dimension is not maintained for at least one of the setting lines in step c), recording (509) the dimension of the setting line (150) in a memory (512) as the dimension of the spacer member (40); The method (400) of claim 1, comprising:

3. The dimension of the setting line (150) is reduced by a predetermined amount (δ), Calculation method (400) according to claim 1 or 2.

4. The acceptance criteria are to limit the dimension of the setting line (150) to a first predetermined lower limit (l ｍｉｎ ) including a lower limit to keep it above Calculation method (400) according to claim 1 or 2.

5. The acceptance criteria are based on the distance between each wall module (30, 660) and the load-bearing wall (12) in a direction perpendicular to the wall module (30, 660) being below a second predetermined lower limit (e ｍｉｎ ) or more, Calculation method (400) according to claim 1 or 2.

6. The tolerance criteria include a tilt criterion regarding the tilt difference (α) between the tips of three adjacent aligned spacer members (40). Calculation method (400) according to claim 1 or 2.

7. the tolerance criteria include a twist criterion for the separation distance between each wall module (30, 660) and the mean plane (430) of the wall module (30, 660) in a direction perpendicular to the wall module (30, 660) along the spacer element (40), Calculation method (400) according to claim 1 or 2.

8. determining (402) the initial position (220) of the peripheral wall of the closed tank includes determining a reference value for an angle (β) made by the flat facets (224) at a corner edge (225) separating the flat facets (224); Calculation method (400) according to claim 1 or 2.

9. The entire peripheral wall (22) of the closed tank (20) is formed by adjacent flat wall modules (30), The tolerance criteria include an angle criterion that the angle (γ) formed by the two inclinations connecting the tips on both sides of a corner edge (225) of the two aligned spacer members (40) closest to the corner edge (225) must be within a range including a reference value of the angle (β) at the corner edge (225). The calculation method (400) of claim 8.

10. The wall module includes, at one of the corner edges (225), a dihedral wall module (660) disposed at the corner edge (225) to form a dihedral angle; the dihedral angle is equal to the reference value of the angle (β) of the corner edge (225); The acceptance criteria are: The inclination between the tip of the spacer member (40) corresponding to the dihedral angle block (660) and the tip of the adjacent spacer member (40); the inclination between the tip of the spacer member (40) corresponding to the dihedral angle block (660) and a point (660P) located at the dihedral angle of the dihedral angle block (660) and aligned with the spacer member (40); a second slope criterion relating to the slope difference (ζ) between The calculation method (400) of claim 8.

11. The load-bearing structure (10) further comprises a flat bottom load-bearing wall (19) having dimensional tolerances; obtaining (401) three-dimensional position measurements of the load-bearing wall (12) further comprises obtaining three-dimensional position measurements of the bottom load-bearing wall (19); The initial position of the sealed tank (20) further includes a bottom flat facet (223) that defines the initial position of the bottom wall (23) of the sealed tank (20); The calculation method (400) further comprises: determining a bottom positioning line (700) for determining the locations of adjacent bottom wall modules (30) for forming the bottom wall (23) of the closed tank (20) based on the positioning line (100); determining, based on the position of the bottom positioning lines (700), bottom setting lines (750) extending perpendicular to the bottom flat facets (223) and the bottom load-bearing walls (19), the bottom setting lines (750) being arranged so that each location (730) of the bottom wall modules (30) intersects with at least one of the bottom setting lines (750), and the bottom setting lines (750) represent the positions of spacer members (40) located between each bottom wall module (30) and the bottom load-bearing walls (19) when the bottom wall (23) of the closed tank (20) is in its final position; calculating an initial dimension of the bottom setting line (750) based on the position measurement result of the bottom load-bearing wall (19); iteratively reducing the dimension of the bottom setting line (750) to bring the wall module (30) closer to the bottom load-bearing wall (19) until it reaches the final position of the bottom wall (23) of the closed tank (20), subject to tolerance criteria, including flatness criteria limiting deformation of the bottom flat facet (223); The calculation method (400) of claim 1 or 2, comprising:

12. The wall module (30) for constituting the peripheral wall (22) of the closed tank (20) has a rectangular outer contour; The positioning line (100) defines a rectangular location (130) of the wall module; The setting lines (150) are arranged so that at least four of the setting lines (150) intersect with each rectangular location (130) of the wall module (30) near the corners of the rectangular location (130). Calculation method (400) according to claim 1 or 2.

13. The peripheral wall (22) of the closed tank (20) has, in the initial position (220), a plurality of flat facets (224) forming a polygonal prism surface having a regular convex polygon as a directrix. Calculation method (400) according to claim 1 or 2.

14. The load-bearing wall (12) forms a polygonal columnar or cylindrical surface having dimensional tolerances. Calculation method (400) according to claim 1 or 2.

15. The spacer member (40) includes a shim. Calculation method (400) according to claim 1 or 2.

16. The spacer member (40) has an anchor rod. Calculation method (400) according to claim 1 or 2.

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