Simulation of Fluid Sloshing for Decreasing the Response of Structural Systems

Abstract

In the last decade, there is a renewed interest in the integration of a sloshing tank into structural systems to decrease the vibrations of the structure. The purpose of this study is to try different numerical simulation programs for further use in studies in evaluation of the effectiveness of the sloshing tank absorbers for structural systems. The programs chosen for sloshing simulations are COMSOL Multiphysics, ANSYS CFX and ANSYS-FLUENT. In the numerical simulations, the free surface shape during sloshing will be simulated under small and large amplitude sinusoidal displacements. The results obtained using different software will be compared with the results of the experiments reported in literature. Since the purpose is to use the sloshing forces on the container to decrease the structural response, the total force on the container walls is calculated and compared with the reported experimental results. The dynamics of a container coupled with the a structural model is simulated and forces applied on the container walls are analyzed in the frequency domain which is important in understanding the tuning of the vibration absorber. To the best of authors' knowledge, in a fluid-structure coupled system the frequency domain analysis of the container wall forces at varying amplitudes of sinusoidal excitation is not presented in literature. The results showed even though higher harmonic forcing magnitudes increase with increasing base motion, the fundamental harmonic component does not change significantly.