An Experimental and CFD Analysis of Sloshing in a Tanker

Sloshing is a violent resonant fluid motion in a moving tank. When a fluid moves and interacts with its container, the dynamic pressures of such an interaction may cause large deformation in the container wall as well as the supporting structure. Most of the work has been done on rectangular tanks. Moreover in most of the studies numerical approach is used. The present study is focused on the fluid structure interactions in an elliptical tank. The movement of fluid in an elliptical tank has been studied using simulation and experimentation and different baffle configurations are used. The pressure exerted by the fluid on the walls of tank is calculated over a certain period of time. The dynamic response of baffled liquid storage tank has been studied extensively to study the influence of location and shapes of baffles under excitation. Different baffle configurations were examined and role of combination of horizontal and vertical baffles were found to be significant in controlling the sloshing.