A Computer Code to Design Liquid Containers for Vehicles

摘要

We are presenting the development of a modualr code for the simulation of the fluid sloshing that occurs in the liquid containers in vehicles. Sloshing occurs when a partially filled container of liquid goes through transient or steady external forces. Under such conditions, the free surface of the liquid may move and the liquid may impact on the walls of the container, exchanging forces. These forces may cause numerous harmful and undesirable consequences in the operation of the vehicle, such as vehicle turn over. The fluid mechanic equations that describe the fluid sloshing in the container and the dynamic equations that describe the movement of the container are solved separately in two different codes. The codes are coupled weekly, such that the output of one code will be used as the input to the other code in the same time step. The outputs of the fluid code are the forces and torques that are applied to the body of the container due to sloshing, whereas the output of the dynamic code are the translational and rotational velocities and accelerations of the container. The proposed software can be used to test the performance of the designed container under various operating condition and allow effective improvements to the container design. The proposed code is different than the presently available codes, in that it will provide a true simulation of the coupled fluid and structure interaction.