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A study on stress analysis of ISO tank container

Conference Paper · December 2013

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Rudraprasad Bhattacharyya
Abhishek Hazra
Cronus Technology Inc.
Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur
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58-istam-sm-fp-8 Proceedings of 58th Congress of ISTAM (http://istam.iitkgp.ac.in)
Held at : BESU Shibpur; Howrah, W.B. (www.becs.ac.in)

A STUDY ON STRESS ANALYSIS OF ISO TANK CONTAINER

Rudraprasad Bhattacharyya and Abhishek Hazra
Narula Institute of Technology, Kolkata, West Bengal, India, 700109
email: [email protected]

Abstract: ISO tank containers are extensively used to transport bulk liquid, gases or
pressurized dry bulk through road, railway or sea. Due to lack of sufficient literature regarding
stress analysis technique of the tank and its frame, tank containers had been designed by trial
and error method for long time. The aim of the design is to make the tank lighter as
international regulations have fixed the total laden weight. So the main design requirement of
the tank is safety and its weight management. In this paper finite element method is applied
for stress analysis of tank container. The model of the tank container has been developed to
analyze the behavior of the actual tank container subjected to static loading (as per ISO 1496-
3). The objective of this analysis is to determine the deflection of corner ends of the frame, the
vertical deflection of the tank and to compute the von Mises yield stress, which belongs to the
subdomain of applied mechanics.
Keywords: Stress analysis, Finite element method, ISO tank container, Static analysis.

Introduction
A standard ISO tank container is suitable for the carriage of bulk liquid, gases or pressurized
dry bulk through different modes of transportation like road, railway or sea. Design of ISO
tank container has evolved through trial and error method.

Fig. 1 ISO Tank Container (Photo Courtesy – Hoover Container Solutions)

This is due to insufficient design based literature and inadequate methodology to analyze
stresses in tank and its frame. A typical tank container is shown in Fig. 1. All the parts of tank
container are made of low carbon steel and stainless steel. The tanks are generally insulated
by mineral wool (Polyurethane) and clad by aluminum sheet. The tank can also include
integral heating, inert gas blanketing and pressurization. As ISO has fixed the total laden
weight, the main design requirement is weight management with a major focus on ensuring
safety. This paper presents a study on stress analysis due to pressure and stacking test as per
ISO recommendation [1].

Modeling
Among several numerical techniques to analyze stress inside a structural or mechanical
component, finite element method is widely used [2]. The finite element model of the tank
container needs intricate detailing during preparation of the geometry of the structure. This
work has been performed in the following steps:

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  Geometrical modeling,
 Element selection, and
 Meshing of the domain

Geometrical Modeling
The major components of the tank container are:
1. Tank, 2.Frame, 3.Hex-plate, 4.Skirt
Though the structure is geometrically symmetric yet modeling of the full geometry is
required due to asymmetric loading arrangement. The prototype of the original ISO Tank
Container is modeled in ABAQUS 6.12[3] (using Graphical User Interference). Further, the
frame is an assembled structure of three components i.e. longitudinal member, horizontal
member and vertical member. Frame members, Hex-plate and Skirt are modeled in 3D
deformable solid by extrusion. Tank is modeled in 3D deformable shell by revolution. The
model is subjected to 3D structural analysis with elements having six degrees of freedom
(three translational, three rotational). To assemble the parts, each and every contact surfaces
are created and connected by tie constraints, which tie up two separate surfaces together so
that there are no relative motion in-between them. The assembled geometrical model is
presented in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 Geometrical model of tank container Fig. 3 Meshed model with solid and shell element

Elements
ABAQUS /explicit library provide wide range of element types which provides flexibility in
modeling different geometry and structures. Each element can be characterized by
considering- Family, Number of nodes, Degrees of freedom, Formulation and Integration.
Due to 3D structural analysis of frame the selected elements must have six degrees of
freedom i.e. the element can move under translation in x, y and z direction, and can also
rotate about the x, y and z axis. By constraining degrees of freedom in desired direction we
can create boundary conditions. For this modeling C3D8R- general purpose linear brick
element is assigned for frame, hex plate and skirt and S4R- large strain shell element is
assigned for tank.

C3D8R element

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C3D8R is a general purpose linear brick element, with reduced integration. In this type of
element stresses, strains are most accurate in the integration points. The integration point of
the C3D8R element is located in the middle of the element. Thus, small elements are required
to capture a stress concentration at the boundary of a structure. This also provides a good
accuracy at inexpensive computational requirement. This element has eight nodes and in each
node there are six degrees of freedom.

S4R element
S4R is a four nodded shell element. It is robust, general purpose element that is suitable for
wide range of works. The element has several hourglass modes that may propagate over the
mesh. It also converges to shear flexible theory for thick shells and classical theory for thin
shells. This element has four nodes and in each node there are six degrees of freedom.

Meshing
To get accurate results meshing is equally important part in this model. Initially a fairly
coarse mesh was assigned and then it was refined in high stressed zone or the zone of interest
to get more accurate result. A coarser mesh is applied in uniformed stressed zone as it
reduces computation costs through saving memory. Dependent mesh has been incorporated
and adjusting the global size of seeds, sizes of mesh are controlled. Finally, the meshing of
the full geometry has been done (Fig. 3).

Static Load Analysis

For the representative situation during transportation, the four bottom corners of the tank
container are constrained from translating in x, y and z direction and constrained from
rotating in y-direction. In ABAQUS the static general, physical loads are considered in
mechanical loading as concentrated force or pressure. As per International Standard
Organization, tank containers which are complying with design and construction
requirements must also be capable of withstanding the tests. The tests are outlined in details
in ISO 1496-3:1995(E) section 6.2-6.13. This paper has concentrated only on static tests i.e.
1) Stacking test (section-6.2),
2) Lifting from four top corner fittings test (section-6.3), and
3) Pressure test (section -6.13)

Stacking Test
This test is carried out to prove the ability of a tank container to support a superimposed load.
Taking into account such conditions ships at sea and the relative eccentricities between
superimposed loads. In ABAQUS this test is carried out by constraining six degrees of
freedom (three translational and three rotational) of the four bottom corner.

3
 Fig. 4 Results of Staking Test
Concentrated load of 800kN has been applied to the each upright corner of the four frames
simultaneously. This test-load is determined by considering gross weight (R), of nine-high
stacking along with adequate factor of safety. The loads are applied in offset position of the
vertical member. Analysis result showing von Mises yield stress is presented in Fig 4.

Lifting from top corner test

This test is carried out to prove the ability of the tank container, to withstand being lifted
from its four top corner fittings by means of lifting devices. As per ISO recommendation the
test is carried out with thetotal load of 600kN which is equivalent to 2R (R is the rating). The
value of the rating, R is the maximum gross mass of the container. The stress analysis result
for the case of lifting from four top corners is presented in Fig 5.

Fig. 5 Results of test for lifting from bottom corner fittings

Pressure Test
This test is carried out to prove the ability of the tank to withstand the specified internal
pressure of the liquid, gases or pressurized dry bulk. In ABAQUS a test pressure of 400
kN/m2 is given internally to the tank. This test pressure satisfies the ISO recommendations of
working pressure 3-4 bar and presented in fig. 6.

4
 Fig. 6 Results of pressure test
Discussions
After the analysis, deflections of corner ends of the frame, vertical deflection of the tank are
studied and the von Mises yield stresses are presented. From the above test results it has been
found that several parts of the tank container need special care during the stage of design. In
low stress region the thickness can be reduced whereas in the high stress region stiffeners
may be used. Finally these recommendations give an opportunity to optimize the use of
material in design of tank container.
References
[1] ISO 1496-3 (1995-03-01); Series 1 freight containers: Specification and testing.
[2] Robert D. Cook, Wiley,Concept and Application of Finite Element Analysis, 2001
[3] ABAQUS 6.11 manuals.

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