Numerical simulations of sloshing flows with elastic baffles by using a particle-based fluid-structure interaction analysis method

Sloshing flows in rolling tanks with elastic baffles are simulated using a modified particle-based fluid-structure interaction (FSI) solver. The modifications correspond to a newly proposed scheme for calculation of the fluid force on structure, and incorporation of a previously developed free-surface assessment scheme in the fluid model. To verify the fluid model, a violent sloshing flow is simulated and the results are compared with the related experimental data (Delorme et al., 2009) both qualitatively and quantitatively. Then, the FSI solver is applied to a comprehensive set of experiments of sloshing flow with elastic baffles (Idelsohn et al., 2008). The effects of baffles on the sloshing phenomena are studied by performing simulations corresponding to without any baffle, a rigid baffle and a set of flexible baffles.