Larger tanks, and at less cost per barrel of oil stored, can be attained by utilizing high tensile steel, as has been shown by the construction of the 100,000 m3 (630,000 bbls) automatically welded floating roof storage tanks at Shell's Europoort terminal.
In order to obtain full advantage of the improvements in the properties of the high tensile steels for structural purposes special attention has to be given to the notch ductility and weldability of the steel used, as well as to the design of the various structural details of the tank.
La construction de grands réservoirs à un prix moins élevé par hectolitre stocké est possible, si on utilise un type d'acier à haute limite élastique, dont un exemple nous est offert par la construction, par soudage automatique, de réservoirs d'une capacité de 100,000 m3 (630,000 bbls.) sur l'emplacement de stockage de la Shell à Europoort. Afin de bénéficier le plus possible des perfectionnements apportés aux propriétés d'aciers à haute limite élastique, on doit en particulier faire attention à la résilience et à la soudure de l'acier, aussi bien qu'à l'étude à la construction des différents éléments de structure du réservoir.
In view of the increase in business in the oil industry and the higher compulsory storage requirements now in force vast sums are being spent on the erection of tankage.
This expenditure on tankage is furthermore increased by the accelerated move towards bigger crude carriers, which not only leads to more storage capacity being required at loading and unloading terminals but also demands for larger storage units to suit the ever-larger tankers.
The oil industry is therefore faced with the challenge of obtaining bigger and cheaper tanks.
This challenge has been met by the 100,000 m3 (630,000 bbls) floating roof storage tanks built at Shell's Europoort terminal, where high tensile steel was used for the fully automatically welded tank shell plates.
When, early in 1963, a project for extension of 400,000 m3 (2,520,000 bbls) storage capacity at Shell's Europoort terminal was approved, quotations were requested from various tank manufacturers, inside and outside the Netherlands, for the supply and erection of tanks of various sizes. The quotations were based on the design criteria mentioned below for which a range of construction materials from St 37 to St 52 (steels with a range of minimum tensile strength from 37 kg/mm2 to by J. M. LANGEFELD, Bataafse Internationale Petroleum Maatschappij N. V. (Royal DutchlShell Group), The Hague, The Netherlands 52 kg/mm2 or from 53,000 to 74,000 psi) could be used.
Special requirements for notch ductility and weld inspection were given for each type of steel.
Bids were received for the following alternatives: 4 tanks of 100,000 m3, 6 tanks of 67,000 m3, 8 tanks of 50,000 m3,
