NO96

NO96 membrane system is a cryogenic liner directly supported by the ships inner hull.
This liner includes two identical metallic membranes and two independent insulation layers.
NO96 ORIGINAL DESIGN

PRIMARY & SECONDARY INVAR MEMBRANES

The primary and secondary membranes are made of Invar, a 36% nickel-steel alloy, 0,7mm thick.
The primary membrane contains the LNG cargo, while the secondary membrane, identical to the
primary, ensures a 100% redundancy in case of leakage. Each of the 500mm wide Invar strakes is
continuously spread along the tank walls and is evenly supported by the primary and the secondary
insulation layers.

PRIMARY & SECONDARY THERMAL INSULATION

The primary and secondary insulation layers consist in a load bearing system made of prefabricated
plywood boxes filled with expanded perlite. The standard size of the boxes is 1m x 1.2m. The
thickness of the primary layer is equal to 230mm; the thickness of the secondary layer is 300mm.
The primary layer is secured by means of the primary couplers, themselves fixed to the secondary
coupler assembly. The secondary layer is laid and evenly supported by the inner hull through loadbearing resin ropes, and fixed by means of the secondary couplers anchored to the inner hull.

NO96 principle

THE NO96 SYSTEM COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES

Reliability
Dual Invar membrane technology continuously improved since 1969 is approved by all the major
classification societies. It benefits from more than 50 years of experience at sea.
Safety
The two independent insulation spaces are continuously flushed with nitrogen gas. The integrity of
both membranes is permanently monitored by detection of hydrocarbon in the nitrogen.
Minimal thermal stress
The Invar material offers an extremely low thermal contraction coefficient, thus reducing the
thermal stresses in the material.
Transverse loads
The membrane strakes are fixed to the boxes by a tongue device enabling the sliding of the
membrane on the top of the boxes (no shear stress) and the absorption of the transverse loads
through the deflection of the raised edges.

Secondary T groove

Primary J Shape

Smooth transfer of longitudinal loads

Along the transverse bulkhead corners, the two membranes are connected to the hull through an
Invar tube, so that all the dynamic and thermal loads are directly and uniformly transferred to the
steel structure.

Invar Tube
High resistance
The boxes are internally strengthened to withstand high impact pressures, and to absorb the
energy from liquid motion. Several levels of reinforcements have been designed to adapt the
strength of the boxes to the expected sloshing loads inside the tanks.

Illustration of reinforced designs

Materials
Plywood and perlite are easily procured, low cost raw materials, available worldwide.
Modular concept
This modular system calls for standard prefabricated components that can accommodate any
capacity of tanks. In addition, they are designed for mass production techniques and easy handling.

LATEST NO96 EVOLUTION FOR LOWER BOIL-OFF SOLUTIONS

In order to meet the requirements for lower boil-off, as a first step, the perlite in the boxes has
been replaced by glass-wool: NO96 GW. It has to be noted that this evolution is not a structural
change. The bearing plywood structure is kept identical to NO96 system. The guaranteed boil-off
rate with NO96 GW system is between 0,125% and 0,13% V/day.
For an ever better thermal efficiency, NO96-L03 is proposed: within the usual NO96 thickness,
three layers of boxes are assembled. The primary boxes are totally identical to NO96 system. The
NO96 secondary boxes are replaced by intermediate plywood boxes assembled with a third layer of
insulation made from R-PUF (foam panel). In the N096-L03 configuration, only standard rectangular
boxes are replaced with the foam panel design (except highly reinforced areas at the top of the
tank). As a consequence, 66% of total surface of the tank is covered by NO96-L03 design. The
plywood boxes are filled with glass-wool. The guaranteed boil-off rate with NO96-L03 system is
0,105% V/day

NO96-L03 principle

These evolutions have been approved by classification societies based on a complete justification
dossier (calculations, tests, cryogenic scale 1 mock-up).

LATEST NO96 EVOLUTION FOR STRENGTH INCREASE

In order to meet requirements for systems sustaining higher sloshing loads, a set of different boxes
corresponding to different levels of reinforcements are proposed. For classical LNGC applications,
the standard, standard-reinforced and ultra-reinforced boxes are sufficient.
Depending of the specification of the project, higher levels of reinforcement can be needed. This is
the basis of the development of the Mega-Reinforced design. The plywood structure is reinforced
by increasing the thickness of primary box double cover and secondary box internal bulkhead.
Boil-off and reinforcements can be optimized according to ship-owner specifications.

NO96 Mega-reinforced design