One of the conventional approaches of structural analysis of containers or tanks
accounting for fluid sloshing is based on the dynamic equilibrium of fluid in
constant acceleration. This method does not account for the effect of structural
deformation on fluid, which may affect the solution accuracy. During sloshing,
the liquid exerts a dynamic force on the surrounding walls, which results in high
strains at the welded joints of the tank and its mounting structure. This paper
compares simulation techniques, which can handle highly nonlinear, dynamic, and
random processes of sloshing motion, as well as tackle the variability due to
other parameters such as tank motion and liquid depth. This paper discusses
Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian (CEL), smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH), and
fluid (computational fluid dynamics, CFD)-structural (finite element analysis,
FEA) one-way coupled techniques through the simulation of the sloshing
phenomenon in a tank using “Abaqus” software tools. The CEL and SPH capabilities
allow for the interaction between the Lagrangian and Eulerian domain.
Representing fluids by using Eulerian elements eliminates the problem of extreme
element deformation associated with Lagrangian elements. The one-way coupled
method allows modeling of the tank sloshing phenomenon using the volume of fluid
(VOF) multiphase CFD methodology, and it allows pressure mapping obtained from
CFD on the structural domain. These techniques are compared based on solution
accuracy and computational efficiency, efforts required to create the model.
These methods are validated against the test data. Scope, advantages, and
limitations are summarized along with important considerations for each
method.