Numerical study of liquid sloshing in three-dimensional flexible cylindrical tank under multi-directional seismic excitation

Abstract

The present study aims to evaluate the effect of the flexibility of three-dimensional (3D) cylindrical tank on liquid sloshing inside the tank as well as the influence of the hydrodynamic forces on the structure's deformation. A ground-supported cylindrical flexible tank filled with water and subjected to seismic excitation is investigated using a numerical coupling methodology to take into account the fluid–structure interactions. The Navier–Stokes equations in the fluid domain are solved using the finite volume method, while the finite element method is used to solve the linear-elastic equations of the structure. The arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian formulation is applied for the moving mesh in two-phase flow system. The simulations are conducted using free open-source software: OpenFOAM for fluid dynamics and FEniCS for solid mechanics, both utilize the preCICE library for data exchanging and fluid–structure coupling. The numerical methodology is validated by the experimental and numerical results given in literature. A multi-directional earthquake ground motion is then considered as external loading, and the elasticity of the tank wall is varied to investigate the effect on the fluid sloshing. It has been shown that the more flexible the tank walls are, the greater will be both the sloshing height and the structural deformations during an earthquake event. Several flow field information and structural responses have been provided, such as the sloshing height, hydrodynamic pressure, structure deformations, and structural stress distribution. The potential elephant's foot buckling phenomenon at the lower part of tank can also be predicted.