Dynamic coupling of a liquid-tank system under transient excitations

Abstract It has been observed that the unrestrained free surface of a container can create relatively large liquid movements for even very small motions of the container. This excessive movement may endanger the stability as well as the maneuvering quality of the transporting vehicle. Therefore, the effects of the dynamic coupling of a liquid-tank system are of great concern. This dynamic coupling problem is studied analytically for a two-dimensional, rectangular rigid tank with no baffles. The governing equations of the liquid motion are derived with reference to a moving coordinate system which is fixed to the moving container. With the liquid forces generated by the fluid motion as the external exciting force for the tank, the motions of the liquid-tank system can be described according to Newton's Second Law of Motion. By using the Laplace transformation technique, the dynamic responses of the coupled system can be examined in detail. Numerical results for various types of external excitations and the resultant motions of the fluid-tank system are presented and compared with the equivalent non-shifting cargo system. The results of the comparison indicate that the discrepancy of responses in the two systems can obviously be observed when the ratio of the natural frequency of the fluid and the natural frequency of the tank is close to unity. Also, the amount of fluid inside the tank is a very important factor in determining the responses.