A 3D BEM model for liquid sloshing in baffled tanks

Abstract

SUMMARYThe present work aims at developing a boundary element method to determine the natural frequencies and mode shapes of liquid sloshing in 3D baffled tanks with arbitrary geometries. Green's theorem is used with the governing equation of potential flow and the walls and free surface boundary conditions are applied. A zoning method is introduced to model arbitrary arrangements of baffles. By discretizing the flow boundaries to quadrilateral elements, the boundary integral equation is formulated into a general matrix eigenvalue problem. The governing equations are then reduced to a more efficient form that is merely represented in terms of the potential values of the free surface nodes, which reduces the size of the computational matrices considerably. The results obtained using the proposed model are verified in comparison with the literature and very good agreement is achieved. Finally, a number of example tanks having common configurations are used to investigate the effect of baffle on sloshing frequencies and some conclusions are outlined.

Study of Self-Induced Sloshing in Model Test of a Water Retaining Weir

“…Firouz-Abadi [18] provided a diagram summarizing the dimensionless sloshing frequencies as a function of the baffle height in a rectangular tank based on a model test with the baffle located in the middle of the tank, shown in Figure 4. In this diagram, the weir is regarded as a vertical baffle, and the natural frequencies could be predicted.…”

“…The diagram of dimensionless sloshing frequency against the baffle height in a rectangular tank is displayed in [18]. This is based on a model test on a baffle located in the middle of the tank and the 1st mode natural frequencies could be calculated in this way.…”

Dynamics of vortex evolution in a 2D baffled tank

“…In their study, the vertical baffle is a more effective tool in reducing the sloshing amplitude. In the same year, A BEM (Boundary element method) model for liquid sloshing in a baffled tank was adopted by Firouz-Abadi et al [17]. The determinations of the natural frequencies and mode shapes of liquid sloshing in baffled tanks with arbitrary geometries were investigated.…”

Liquid sloshing in a horizontally forced vessel with bottom topography

“…A similar conclusion was found by Idir et al, 2009 who showed that a hump topography is more effective at attenuating the energy of a forcing than a flat bottomed TLD. The natural frequencies of sloshing modes in baffled three-dimensional tanks has also been examined numerically using boundary integral methods (Firouz-Abadi et al, 2008).…”