Creep-fatigue damage analysis of a large horizontal molten-salt storage tank

Abstract

Molten-salt storage tank is the key equipment of solar-thermal storage system. In this paper, creep-fatigue analysis and evaluation were performed on a large horizontal molten-salt storage tank according to ASME Code Case 2843, and influence of the structural form for opening reinforcement was investigated. Results found that increasing the thickness of the tube was not very helpful for the equipment to pass creep-fatigue damage assessment; On the other hand, the integral reinforced structure was effective to meet the requirement of creep-fatigue damage assessment. For the horizontal molten-salt storage tank studied here, the creep damage was dominant compared to the fatigue damage.