Analysis of Floating Roofs by ODE-Solver Method

Abstract

An ODE-solver-based method for the solution of the deflection and stresses of the deck plate of an oil storage tank floating roof, either with or without a central pontoon, is proposed in this paper. Based on the bending theory for the large deflection of thin plates, a system of standard ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and associated boundary conditions for the problem is derived with various factors taken into consideration. The ODE system is then solved directly and efficiently by using a standard general-purpose ODE solver with the solution accuracy satisfying the user-specified error tolerance. Two numerical examples are given to show the remarkable performance of the proposed method.