Tech Briefs


Fully Coupled Fluid Flow Structure Analysis: Sloshing of Oil in a Tank

The above animation shows the sloshing of oil in a tank with its base subjected to a horizontal ground motion. For better viewing, the fluid and solid parts are presented separately.

The large flexible circular tank is filled with oil. A pontoon floats on the oil surface to prevent the oil from contacting the air. The tank is subjected to a horizontal ground motion of magnitude 1 meter and frequency 0.125 Hz.





The fluid is modeled in ADINA as a Navier-Stokes fluid using 3-D fluid elements. 4-node shell elements are used to model the flexible tank wall and the pontoon. The meshes for this model are shown below.