Transient sloshing in half-full horizontal elliptical tanks under lateral excitation

A semi-analytical mathematical model is developed to study the transient liquid sloshing characteristics in half-full horizontal cylindrical containers of elliptical cross section subjected to arbitrary lateral external acceleration. The problem solution is achieved by employing the linear potential theory in conjunction with conformal mapping, resulting in linear systems of ordinary differential equations which are truncated and then solved numerically by implementing Laplace transform technique followed by Durbin's numerical inversion scheme. A ramp-step function is used to simulate the lateral acceleration excitation during an idealized turning maneuver. The effects of tank aspect ratio, excitation input time, and baffle configuration on the resultant sloshing characteristics are examined. Limiting cases are considered and good agreements with available analytic and numerical solutions as well as experimental data are obtained.