Free vibrations of composite tanks partially filled with fluid

This paper aims to the investigation of free vibrations of laminated composite tanks partially filled with liquid. The governing equations of liquid motion are derived using a boundary element formulation of incompressible potential flow. The structure of tank is modeled as a composite shell and modal analysis technique is used for structural modeling of the tank. The structural modal equations are combined with the equations of liquid motion to obtain the governing equations of the coupled fluid–structure system. The obtained model is utilized for determination of natural frequencies of some example tanks which represent good agreements in comparison with the literature. Finally, an extensive parameter study on a typical composite tank is accomplished and some conclusions are drawn.