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LNG (liquefied natural gas) cryogenic ball valve (CBV) is an important flow control device in LNG receiving stations. Its reliability directly affects the stability of the pipeline system, especially its damage or leak in the seat seal will seriously threaten the normal operation and the safety of LNG receiving stations. When LNG flows through the CBV, due to the interaction between fluid pressure and the valve structure, the hard sealing at the valve seat is not only subjected to the pre-tightening force of saucer spring, but also affected by the fluid pressure of the complex flow. Therefore, it is necessary to study the flow characteristics in the CBV and the hard sealing performance affected by the LNG. In this paper, the fluid dynamics and the contact stress on hard sealing performance in the CBV are analyzed. The pressure drop, pressure, and velocity distributions were analyzed, respectively. The contact stress on the hard sealing surfaces of the CBV with fluid pressure was analyzed by the fluid-structure coupling method. This work has a certain reference value for researching and mastering the hard sealing performance of cryogenic ball valves.

Cryogenic ball valves are one of the most important fluid control devices in liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving stations. The dynamic flow characteristics of cryogenic ball valves directly affect the stability of a pipeline system. In this paper, the sliding mesh technology was adopted to simulate the dynamic flow characteristics inside the cryogenic ball valve. Firstly, the energy loss inside the cryogenic ball valve during the opening and closing process was analyzed. It is found that the energy loss is larger when the spool degree is less than 30°, while the fluid resistance is very small at the rest of the degree. Then, the dynamic flow characteristics of the cryogenic ball valve at different spool rotational speeds were investigated. It is found that the velocity value and the flow turbulence are gradually increased when the spool rotational speed increases from 1.25 deg/s to 10 deg/s. Finally, dynamic flow characteristics during the valve opening process with fluctuation of inlet velocity were analyzed. It is found that the distribution of velocity and pressure is approximately consistent, while the value of velocity and pressure is increased with the increase of inlet velocity. It is helpful for the design of cryogenic ball valves and the improvement of the whole LNG pipeline system.