Numerical study of highly viscous fluid sloshing in the real-scale membrane-type tank

Abstract

The highly viscous liquid (glycerin) sloshing is investigated numerically in this study. The full-scale membrane-type tank is considered. The numerical investigation is performed by applying a two-phase numerical model based on the spatially averaged Navier-Stokes equations. Firstly, the numerical model is validated against the available numerical model and a self-conducted experiment then is applied to systematically investigate the full-scale sloshing. In this study, two filling levels (50% and 70% of the tank height) are considered. The fluid kinematic viscosity is fixed at a value being 6.0 × 10-5 m2/s with comparative value to that of the crude oil. A wide range of forcing periods varying from 8.0 s to 12.0 s are used to identify the response process of pressures as well as free surface displacements. The pressures are analyzed along with breaking free surface snapshots and corresponding pressure distributions. The slamming effects are also demonstrated. Finally, the frequency response is further identified by the fast Fourier transformation technology.