Numerical Simulation of Liquid Sloshing Problem under Resonant Excitation

Abstract

Numerical simulations were conducted to investigate the fluid resonance in partially filled rectangular tank based on the OpenFOAM package of viscous fluid model. The numerical model was validated by the available theoretical, numerical, and experimental data. The study was mainly focused on the large amplitude sloshing motion and the corresponding impact force around the resonant condition. It was found that, for the 2D situation, the double pressure peaks happened near to the side walls around the still water level. And they were corresponding to the local free surface rising up and set-down, respectively. The impulsive loads on the tank corner with extreme magnitudes were observed as the free surface impacted the ceiling. The 3D numerical results showed that the free surface amplitudes along the side walls varied diversely, depending on the direction and frequency of the external excitation. The characteristics of the pressure around the still water level and tank ceiling were also presented. According to the computational results, it was found that the 2D numerical model can predict the impact loads near the still water level as accurately as 3D model. However, the impulsive pressure near the tank ceiling corner was remarkably underestimated.