A numerical study of violent sloshing problems with modified MPS method

Abstract

A numerical study on violent liquid sloshing phenomenon in a partially filled rectangular container is carried out by using moving particle semi-implicit (MPS) method. The present study deals with the implementation of five modifications all together over the original MPS method. The modifications include improved source terms for pressure Poisson equation, special approximation technique for the representation of gradient differential operator, collective action of mixed free surface particle identification boundary conditions, effecting Neumann boundary condition on solving the PPE and fixing judiciously the parting distance among particles to prevent collision. The suitability of the kernel function used in the original MPS method along with these five modifications is investigated for violent sloshing problems. The present model ensures a good agreement between numerical results with the existing experimental observations. The model is successfully applied to a partially filled tank undergoing horizontal sinusoidal excitation to compute the sloshing wave amplitudes and pressure on tank walls. The assessment of dynamic behaviour manifested in terms of base shear, overturning moment and impact pressure load exerted on tank ceiling induced by violent sloshing motion using MPS method is not reported in the open literature and has been efficiently carried out in the present study.