A study of sloshing absorber geometry for structural control with SPH

A liquid sloshing absorber consists of a container, partially filled with liquid. The absorber is attached to the structure to be controlled, and relies on the structure's motion to excite the liquid. Consequently, a sloshing wave is produced at the liquid free-surface within the absorber, possessing energy dissipative qualities. The primary objective of this work is to numerically demonstrate the effect of a sloshing absorber's shape on its control performance. Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) is used to model fluid–structure interaction of the structure/sloshing absorber system in two dimensions. The structure to be controlled is a lightly damped single degree-of-freedom structure. The structure is subjected to a transient excitation and then allowed to respond dynamically, coming to rest either due to its own damping alone or with the added control of the sloshing absorber. It is identified that the control performance of the conventionally used rectangular container geometry can be improved by having inward-angled walls. This new arrangement is robust, and of significant advantage in situations when the external disturbance is of uncertain magnitude.