Scott Jago, STS Marine Solutions Ltd, UK, outlines the root causes of LNG composite hose failures and the procedures to elimate this risk.
T
he discovery of metal deformed in such a distinctive way is becoming a common sight to the technical department of STS Marine Solutions Ltd (LNGSTS). For those that do not recognise what is being observed in Figureb1, it is a damaged internal reinforcement coil of an LNG composite hose that failed when used for an LNG ship-to-ship transfer operation. It may be puzzling to the observer how it could possibly be manipulated, twisted, and contorted in such a distinctive way. Amongst the technical department of LNGSTS this has become known as the butterfly effect, due to the distinctive way the metal folds.
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