Hydrodynamic pressures acting on the walls of rectangular fluid containers

The dynamic response characteristics of a rectangular fluid container are investigated by using finite element method. The fluid is assumed to be linear-elastic, inviscid and compressible. A displacement-based fluid finite element was employed to allow for the effects of the fluid. A typical rectangular fluid container, which is used in recent studies, is considered for the numerical analysis. The North-South component of El Centro Earthquake records is used as input ground acceleration. Rigid and flexible fluid containers solutions are obtained for the chosen sample tank. Hydrodynamic pressures and sloshing motions are determined using Lagrangian fluid finite element. The results obtained from this study are compared with the results obtained by boundary-finite element method (BEM-FEM) and requirements of Eurocode-8. Based on the numerical analysis, some conclusions and discussions on the design considerations for rectangular fluid containers are presented.