Collapsible Fabric Tanks (CFTs) are used around the world in a variety of applications to store many types of fluid. They can be found in settings such as construction sites, emergency response zones, oilfield operations, large military installations, remote storage depots, and forward operating bases. These tanks can serve as temporary, semi-permanent, or tactical storage and may range in size from a few hundred gallons up to 210,000 gallons. These collapsible tanks must be strong yet flexible, deployable from a compact container by limited numbers of personnel with minimal load handling equipment, compatible with the fluid being stored, and capable of surviving long periods in austere environments by resisting deterioration caused by heat, moisture, and UV radiation.
SwRI operates a 22,000 square foot full-scale, Bulk and Tactical Fuel Storage concrete-surfaced revetment capable of testing CFTs ranging up to 50,000 gallon capacity to the MIL-PRF-32233B Performance Specification as well as First Article Testing. With 100,000 gallons of fuel available onsite distributed by electric pumps through calibrated flow meters, modular stainless steel tubing, and connected hoses, CFTs and ancillary equipment such as pumps, hoses, valves, flow measuring devices, additive mixers, filters/separators, and tank gauging equipment can also be tested as an integrated system. Fuel resistant berm liners and portable steel wall sections are configured around the test articles to provide essential secondary containment within the sloped concrete enclosure for enhanced protection of the environment from a sudden tank rupture. An access ramp allows large test articles to be moved from the rim to the revetment floor by forklift or truck.
To complement the full-scale testing of collapsible tanks, SwRI also offers a comprehensive set of material performance specification tests for tank material via MIL‑PRF‑32233 and for hoses via MIL‑PRF‑370 and MIL‑PRF‑53064. Material compatibility testing can be performed on a wide range of fluids and specimen types (metals, plastics, elastomers) under varying conditions of temperature and time exposure.
Collapsible Tank Performance Tests
- Physical Characteristics
- Low/High Temperature Exposure
- Deployment
- Fuel Storage
- Tank Overload
Tank Base Material Tests
- Fuel Extraction
- Accelerated Weathering
- Gum Content
- Diffusion
- Puncture Resistance
- Low Temperature Crease Resistance
- Blocking
- Dead Load Shear Resistance
- Material Breaking Strength
- Material Breaking Strength Retention
- Panel Seam Breaking Strength
- Panel Seam Breaking Strength Retention
- Seam Peel Adhesion
- Fungus Resistance
Hose Performance Tests
- Physical Characteristics
- Hydrostatic Burst Pressure
- Minimum Burst
- Tensile Strength
- Ultimate Elongation
- Change in Volume
- Adhesion
- Low Temperature Flexibility
- Existent Gum
- Static Bond/Electrical Resistance
- Resistance to Aging
- Pull Strength
- Proof Pressure