Fully Coupled Fluid/Mechanical Response Prediction for Truck-Mounted Tank Sloshing Using Cosimulation of MSC.ADAMS ^® and MSC.Dytran ^®

This paper describes a new capability for fully coupled cosimulation of an explicit computational fluid dynamics code (MSC.Dytran) with an implicit mechanical systems simulation code (MSC.ADAMS). Particular interest is paid to baffled fluid tanks mounted on heavy trucks, although the system can be used to simulate the interaction between many fluid and mechanical systems.

The interprocess communication approach used for the cosimulation is based on standard TCP/IP protocols and socket connections, so that it can be used on a wide range of computer platform combinations. A stand-alone interface code communicates with and controls the flow of both ADAMS and the multiple Dytran processes, which can be running on different hardware and different operating systems.

The method has been quantitatively verified in laboratory tests of a small (15 liter) tank. Robustness has been established using a complete heavy military truck model with two baffled 1800 gallon tanks, each filled to ~50% capacity with fluid, exercised through a range of realistic handling and ride quality events.