Reinforcement Pad

[280474]

Dear All,
I am not a structural engineer and like to ask help from you guys..
I have some pipe supports attached on LNG tank wall. They supports LNG pipes which are verticaly routed from LNG transfer Pump at the top of tank to the bottom of tank.
Now we have a problem of tank wall cracks which are found at the area of joint between beam support and tank wall (not at weld joint). The root cause is in under investigation, but I need to know the influence of additional reinforcement pad at the beam support. Originaly, the beam supports are welded directly to the tank wall without any reinforcement pad. Let's say I install the reinforcement pad, is there any significant load distrubution on the pad which will minimze load to the tank wall. Let's assume that weld joints have adequate strength to overcome the design load of pipe, therefore the load will be held by the pad and/or tank wall.

regdars,

 

[JAE]

Its difficult to provide good tips on cases like this where the actual configuration and loading is unknown (and impossible to totally describe in a forum like this), but generally, the more you can "soften" and spread out concentrated loads on steel plate walls such as a tank, the better you avoid high stress concentrations.

You say that the cracks are under investigation and I would agree that you should have them properly investigated by a structural or materials engineer.