Abstract
This study presents an analysis of effectiveness of different designs of baffles, including the conventional, partial and oblique, in limiting the manoeuvre-induced transient as well as steady-state fluid slosh forces and moments in a partly-filled tank truck. The effect of an alternating arrangement of partial baffles is also explored. A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics model of a partly-filled tank is developed to study the relative anti-slosh properties of different baffles designs and layouts under combined idealized longitudinal and lateral acceleration fields and different cargo loads. The analyses are also performed for a cleanbore tank, which is validated using the widely-used quasi-static slosh model. The results suggest that the conventional transverse baffles offer important resistance to fluid slosh under braking manoeuvres, while the obliquely placed baffles could help limit the longitudinal as well as lateral fluid slosh under combined lateral and longitudinal acceleration excitations.
Highlights
In road tankers, the free surface of liquid cargo may experience large excursions for even very small motions of the container
The dynamic fluid slosh model for each tank configuration was analyzed using the selected mesh size and step size, and the steady-state slosh force and moment responses were computed from the pressure distributions using Eqs. (6) and (7)
The transient as well steady-state forces and moments caused by fluid slosh under simultaneously applied longitudinal and lateral accelerations were evaluated through development and solutions of a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of the partly-filled tank
Summary
The free surface of liquid cargo may experience large excursions for even very small motions of the container. The resulting dynamic load shifts in the roll and pitch planes could influence the roll and pitch moments, and mass moments of inertia of the fluid cargo, and may contribute to degradation of the handling and directional stability limits. This problem is common in fuel tanks of automobiles, aircrafts and large ships and tankers. It has been shown that the free surface oscillations of low viscosity fluids in partly-filled tank trucks persist over long durations, and can lead to significantly lower roll stability limits and braking performance [4,5,6]. Baffles are commonly used as effective means of suppressing the magnitudes of fluid slosh, apart from enhancing the integrity of the tank structure, only a few studies have assessed roles of baffles design factors in view of the braking and roll dynamics performance
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