Effects of tank motion on oil spilling from damaged oil tanks

The grounded or collided oil tankers are often subjected to periodic motions, which excites the liquid sloshing inside the cargo tanks and influences the oil spilling. This paper presents a systematic numerical investigation of the effects of the tank motions on the oil spilling from damaged oil tanks by using a VOF-based multiphase flow solver with the assistance of dynamic mesh techniques. For simplicity, only the two-dimensional single-hull tank (SHT) subjected to pre-specified periodic motions with different frequencies and amplitudes is considered. The results suggest that the tank motion does not only cause a periodic oscillation of the oil/water flow through the broken hole, but also results in a second long-duration stage of spilling after a quasi-hydrostatic-equilibrium condition occurs, leading to more significant amount of spilled oil.