Numerical Simulation of Impact Loads Caused by Sloshing in a Rectangular Tank Using Eulerian and Lagrangian Approaches

Numerical investigations of the sloshing phenomena in 2D and 3D rectangular tanks using Eulerian and Lagrangian approaches were carried out to predict the impact loads inside the tanks. The newly developed two-phase Eulerian solver was based on the constrained interpolation profile (CIP)-combined unified procedure (CCUP) method, where the unsplit semi-Lagrangian CIP (USCIP) method was adopted for the convection terms of the Navier-Stokes equations, and the tangent of hyperbola for interface capturing-weighted line interface calculation (THINC-WLIC) method was used to capture the air-water interface. The Lagrangian approach was an improved version of the moving particle simulation (MPS) method and is called the Pusan National University-modified MPS (PNU-MPS). The characteristics, which were determined by using these methods, were compared by using numerical simulations. The simulation results were compared with the experimental results, showing good agreement. The CCUP method provided the underestimated peak values, whereas the PNU-MPS showed an overestimated impact pressure.