Numerical research on the anti-sloshing effect of a ring baffle in an independent type C LNG tank

Abstract

Liquid sloshing can be suppressed by the installation of baffles. The influence of a ring baffle on sloshing reduction is investigated based on an analysis of parameter sensitivity through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. Firstly, a series of liquid sloshing experiments with a liquefied natural gas (LNG) independent type C model tank is designed to validate the numerical method. Four definition parameters of the ring baffle, the height (H), the position installation (P), the inclined angle (θ), and the thickness (t), are selected as effective factors, and the efficiency of sloshing reduction is used as the comparison criterion. Research cases of parameter sensitivity are designed by orthogonal tests and computed by a validated numerical method. It is found that the thickness has little effect but the other parameters, especially the height, have significant influence in suppressing sloshing. The directions of improvement of the significant actors are analyzed. The effective height of the ring baffle is discussed numerically with different excitation angles. It is demonstrated that increasing the height of the ring baffle will not bring further improvement in efficiency of sloshing reduction after it exceeds 20% of the tank diameter.