Sloshing in a closed domain under unidirectional excitation

Abstract

Sloshing is a phenomenon where a partially filled tank is exerted into various environmental sea conditions, such as wave and wind. Sloshing in a tank of liquefied natural gas carrier can lead to structural damage of tank structures and motion instability of the carrier. Thus, sloshing analysis needs to be conducted beforehand to minimize the risk of damages. This paper presents experimental and numerical study on sloshing phenomenon in a prismatic membrane tank model under unidirectional excitation with 30% water filling condition. A regular wave motion stimulated by the linear actuator was applied to the model tank and recorded by a video camera. Meanwhile, OpenFoam software was used to simulate the sloshing numerically in a volume of fluid method based on Navier-Stokes theorem. The sloshing patterns and free surface elevation in the prismatic membrane model tank, with the same input amplitude and frequency, were investigated for both cases. Both experimental and simulation results showed reasonable agreement on the sloshing profile, while the internal free surface elevation in the closed domain indicated a deviation with maximum absolute error of 4.9 cm.