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Sloshing Simulation and Analysis Package

Categories: Abaqus, Acoustics, CEL and Eulerian, CFD & FSI, Course, DEM and SPH, FSI and CFD, Sloshing

Sloshing Simulation and Analysis Package

Sloshing Simulation and Analysis Package

Sloshing Simulation and Analysis Package

Sloshing Simulation and Analysis Package

Peyman Karampour

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About Course

Introduction to Sloshing Simulation and Analysis

Sloshing refers to the oscillatory motion of liquid inside a partially filled container when subjected to dynamic excitations such as acceleration, vibration, or external loads. This phenomenon is commonly encountered in engineering applications like fuel tanks, LNG (liquefied natural gas) carriers, water reservoirs, spacecraft propellant tanks, and road tankers. Understanding sloshing behavior is critical for safety, performance, and structural integrity.

This package includes 10 practical tutorials that help you become a master in sloshing analysis.

Why Sloshing Matters

Dynamic Loads on Structures
Liquid movement creates fluctuating pressures on container walls and roofs, which can cause fatigue, cracks, or even catastrophic failure if not properly considered.
Stability Issues
In moving vehicles (ships, aircraft, trucks), liquid sloshing may shift the center of mass, affecting stability and control.
Operational Performance
Excessive sloshing can reduce the efficiency of fluid transport systems (e.g., fuel in aerospace systems).

Key Factors Affecting Sloshing

Fill Level: A Higher free-surface area generally increases sloshing effects.
Excitation Frequency: Resonance occurs when the excitation frequency matches the natural frequency of the liquid.
Container Geometry: Cylindrical, rectangular, or spherical tanks exhibit different sloshing modes.
Fluid Properties: Density, viscosity, and surface tension influence wave patterns.

Sloshing Simulation Approaches

Analytical Methods
- Based on linear potential flow theory.
- Useful for small-amplitude oscillations and simple geometries.
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
- Solves the Navier–Stokes equations with free-surface tracking methods (VOF, ALE, SPH).
- Captures nonlinear sloshing, wave breaking, and impact pressures.
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) with Abaqus
- Combines structural and fluid interactions.
- Uses techniques like Eulerian–Lagrangian coupling to simulate the fluid–structure interaction (FSI).

Applications

Marine Engineering: Predicting sloshing loads in LNG carrier tanks.
Aerospace: Understanding fuel slosh in rockets and satellites.
Civil Engineering: Designing earthquake-resistant liquid storage tanks.
Automotive: Minimizing slosh in vehicle fuel tanks for stability.

In essence, Sloshing Simulation and Analysis helps engineers predict and mitigate the risks associated with liquid motion, ensuring safer and more efficient designs.

Course Content

Example-1: Sloshing analysis of an airy CFRP composite tank
In this lesson, the sloshing analysis of an airy CFRP composite tank is studied. Airy Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composite tanks are widely used in aerospace, automotive, and energy storage applications due to their high strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance, and durability. However, when these tanks contain liquids (such as fuel or cryogenic fluids), they are subjected to dynamic loads from seismic activity and fluid sloshing, which can affect structural integrity. Seismic and sloshing analysis of an airy CFRP composite tank requires a multidisciplinary approach combining structural dynamics, fluid mechanics, and material science. Advanced simulation techniques (CEL, SPH, Acoustic CFD), along with experimental validation, are essential for ensuring safety and performance in critical applications.

Abaqus Files
Document
Tutorial Video-1
15:47
Tutorial Video-2
18:37

Example-2: Modeling of water sloshing in a cylindrical tank under seismic loading with the Acoustic method
In this section, the modeling of water sloshing in a cylindrical tank under seismic loading with the Acoustic method is investigated. Besides the seismic loading analysis, a frequency model is used to extract the frequency of the tank and the acoustic water part. The storage steel tank is modeled as a three-dimensional shell part. The water is modeled as a solid, and the water’s upper surface is modeled as a shell part. 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 and supporting structure. Most of the work has been done on rectangular tanks. Both the dynamic explicit and implicit can be used. The proper interactions are considered among the parts. The mechanical boundary is assigned to the tank, and the acceleration is applied as a seismic load.

Example-3: Analysis of the water sloshing of the buried concrete tanks in soil subjected to seismic loading
In this case, the analysis of water sloshing in buried concrete tanks in soil subjected to seismic loading is presented through a practical tutorial. Earthquake brings huge losses in the development of human society repeatedly, which is one of the most serious natural disasters facing humanity. The world’s earthquake occurs about 500 million times every year, of which magnitudes 6 and above are about 100 to 200 times, and magnitudes 7 and above are about 18 times. Earthquake loads have usually been considered in their design. Still, the analyses have been based on a simplified theory developed for retaining walls with the wall top at the ground surface and the foundation assumed to be rigid. When the structure is constructed below the surface in deep soil layers, these simplified methods have obvious limitations. The tank, soil, and water are modeled as a three-dimensional solid part. To model soil behavior, Mohr-Coulomb plasticity and elasticity are used. For the water Us-Up equation of state and for the concrete CDP model are used. The dynamic explicit step is used to investigate water sloshing during an earthquake. The surface-to-surface contact between water and tank, without a zero value for the friction coefficient, is used. The contact between soil and concrete is assumed as a surface-to-surface contact with a contact property.

Example-4: Simulation of the water sloshing phenomenon in the cylindrical tank
In this example, the simulation of the water sloshing phenomenon in the cylindrical tank is done. The effect of severe sloshing motion on global seagoing vessels is an important factor in the safety design of such containers. The violent motion of fuel or liquid cargo in tanks may result in severe sloshing loads on the containment system and supporting structure. It is important to quantify the effects of this sloshing on the system for design consideration. Even simple baffles reduce sloshing effects by dissipating kinetic energy due to the production of vortices into the fluid; their exact shapes and positions need to be designed with the use of numerical model simulation or physical testing. Nonetheless, the damping mechanisms of baffles are still not fully understood. Moreover, liquid sloshing in containers is an important phenomenon of great practical application concerning the safety of space vehicles, storage tanks, road vehicle tanks, ships, and elevated water towers under ground motion, and remains of great concern to aerospace, civil, nuclear engineers, physicists, designers of road tankers and ship tankers, and mathematicians To model the water and tank, a three-dimensional part has been used. The water material is modeled as an equation of state, Us-Up, with viscosity

Exampe-5: Modeling of the earthquake load over a tank containing water
In this lesson, the modeling of the earthquake load over a tank containing water is studied. Sloshing refers to the oscillatory motion of liquid inside a partially filled container when subjected to dynamic excitations such as acceleration, vibration, or external loads. This phenomenon is commonly encountered in engineering applications like fuel tanks, LNG (liquefied natural gas) carriers, water reservoirs, spacecraft propellant tanks, and road tankers. Understanding sloshing behavior is critical for safety, performance, and structural integrity. The water and tank are modeled as three-dimensional deformable parts. Elastic plastic material for a concrete tank and viscosity with the Us-Up equation for water has been used. Earthquake load is applied as a dynamic explicit step with a fifty-five-second duration. To model water sloshing Lagrangian approach is implemented. During the earthquake, water began sloshing and water waves collided with the tank wall and causing stress in it.

Example-6: Analysis of the water sloshing in the concrete tank under earthquake load-Euelrian model
In this section, the analysis of the water sloshing in the concrete tank under earthquake load is investigated. Water sloshing describes the unstable motion of liquid within a container, such as a car or ship, often accompanied by a splashing sound. It occurs when motion in the container creates pressure changes, causing the liquid to move and interact with the container's surfaces. Sloshing can happen due to various issues, including clogged drains, air in the cooling system, or trapped water in a car's chassis, leading to sounds like splashing or gurgling. Concrete tank is modeled as a three-dimensional shell with elastic material and water as an Eulerian part with the Us-Up equation. An explicit procedure is appropriate, and a a fifty-five-second time period has been applied. To definethe initial water volume, a volume fraction tool has been implemented. During the analysis, water goes through the vessel, and sloshing occurred under earthquake load.

Example-7: Sloshing of the cylindrical steel drums under blast loading conditions with the SPH method
In this case, the sloshing of the cylindrical steel drums under blast loading conditions with the SPH method is done through a practical tutorial. In the last few decades, a number of major industrial accidents have occurred around the world. The blast wave of detonation has a sudden rise in pressure above atmospheric conditions to a peak overpressure (free-field or side-on). The peak overpressure gradually decays to ambient pressure, followed by a small negative phase. Deflagration typically produces a blast wave with a gradual overpressure rise to peak value, followed by a decay and a negative phase with a similar scale to the incident positive phase. Generally, detonation produces a blast wave with a higher peak overpressure but shorter positive duration than in a deflagration case. Deflagration is able to transform into detonation within a highly congested region. When a detonation blast wave impinges on a surface, it is reflected. The magnitude of reflected overpressure depends on the peak incident value and angle of incidence. For deflagration, the reflected overpressure is more closely related to the parameters of the incident wave and the dimensions of the target. It does not have a significant enhancement as normally expected from a detonation blast wave at the same level of peak incident overpressure. During the analysis blast wave pressure causes a huge deformation on the drum, and because of this it the water inside the tank was wavy, like a sloshing phenomenon. To model drum behavior under blast load, Johnson-Cook plasticity and damage, and for water Us-Up linear form has been used.

Example-8: Simulation of the non-Newtonian water flow impact on the rigid barrier-SPH method
In this lesson, the simulation of the non-Newtonian water flow impact on the rigid barrier in Abaqus software is studied. The water is modeled as a three-dimensional solid part with non-Newtonian behavior. A non-Newtonian fluid is a fluid that does not follow Newton’s law of viscosity, that is, it has variable viscosity dependent on stress. In particular, the viscosity of non-Newtonian fluids can change when subjected to force. In this example, the Us-Up equation of state and definition of the non-Newtonian model in the edit input are selected to consider water behavior. The dynamic explicit step is appropriate for this type of analysis because of the SPH method of water. The proper interactions and boundary conditions are used. The mesh should be fine enough to have many nodes that represent the water behavior.

Example-9: Analysis of the water container under earthquake load
In this section, the analysis of the water container under earthquake load is presented through a comprehensive tutorial. Water sloshing describes the unstable motion of liquid within a container, such as a car or ship, often accompanied by a splashing sound. It occurs when motion in the container creates pressure changes, causing the liquid to move and interact with the container's surfaces. The container is modeled as a three-dimensional shell with steel material, and for modeling the legs beam element with steel material has been used. Water is modeled as a three-dimensional Eulerian part, and for modeling its behavior Us-Up equation has been implemented. An explicit procedure is appropriate for this type of analysis and earthquake load, as horizontal acceleration is applied for one and a half seconds to the base of the structure.

Example-10: Modeling of the liquid storage tank under blast using coupled Euler–Lagrange formulation
In this lesson, the modeling of the liquid storage tank under blast using coupled Euler–Lagrange formulation is studied. A growing number of terror attacks all over the world have become a threat to human civilization. In the last two decades, bomb blasts in crowded business areas, underground railway stations, and busy roads have taken numerous lives and destroyed properties in different parts of the world. However, the blast response of many important civil infrastructures has still not been well understood due to the complexities of their material behavior, loading, and higher nonlinearities. One such example of important civil infrastructure is liquid storage tanks, which are indispensable parts of any society for the storage of water, milk, liquid petroleum, chemicals in industries, etc. Blast loading on liquid storage structures may lead to disaster due to water and milk crisis, health hazard owing to the spread of chemicals, and fire hazard due to the spread of liquid fuel. Hence, understanding the dynamic behavior of liquid storage structures under blast loading through numerical simulations is of utmost importance. In the present study, three-dimensional (3D)finite element (FE) simulations of a steel water storage tank were performed for different tank aspect ratios. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will see the modeling procedure of the blast simulation over a tank filled with water in Abaqus. To model the blast effect CONWEP procedure has been implemented. Water is modeled as an Eulerian part for a better view of its sloshing during the explosion, and the tank is modeled as a shell element.

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