This paper presents an experimental investigation of characteristics of piezoelectric sensor in sloshing experiment. The effects of thermal shock, diameter, and mal-mounting were investigated. The effect of AC and DC coupling was also investigated. The longitudinal as well as transverse model test results were investigated along with video clips captured with high speed camera for two different filling ratios.
The increase of consumption of LNG(Liquefied Natural Gas) accelerates the increase of the size of the LNGC. The traditional design criteria will not applicable to the design of new LNGC. When it comes to the sloshing load estimation, experimental vetification is needed most of the time due to the complexity of the sloshing phenomenon. It means that accurate measurement of impact pressure can be one of very important topics. Much research has been done on piezoelectric sensors (Gautschi, 2002; ISA 1975; ISA 1982; Norton 1969, 1982). However, not much research on impact pressure has been reported. Therefore understanding the characteristics of the pressure sensors is essential in sloshing experiment (Choi, et al, 2009). To get to know better the charaterristics of pressure sensors some tests have done. The effect of diameter was tested. Two sensors with diameters 9.5 mm and 5.5mm were tested. It turned out that both of the sensors give us quite identical impact pressures within the tested impact range. Thermal effect was investigated. The temperature difference between the sensors and water affected the magnitude of the impact pressures. It was observed that ICP type sensors are very sensitive to the thermal shock. However, it conclusoin was made from the exagerated temperature difference between them. Therefore this result should not be generalized. The effect of mal-mounting was investigated. The hollow and protuding mounting setup were tested along with flush mounting.
