Study of sloshing flow in a rectangular tank

Abstract

The two-dimensional sloshing problem in a rigid rectangular tank with a free surface is considered. The flow is generated by a container in harmonic motion in time along the horizontal axis, i.e., a container excited by u = Asin(2πft) where u denotes the container velocity imposed externally, A is the amplitude of the oscillation velocity, and f is the frequency of oscillation. Experimental apparatus is arranged to investigate the large-amplitude sloshing flows in off-resonant conditions, where the large amplitude means that A ∼ O(1), and the distance, S, is comparable to the breadth, L, of the container, i.e., L/S ∼ O(1). Comprehensive particle image velocimetry (PIV) data are obtained, which show that the flow physics of the nonlinear off-resonant sloshing problem can be characterized into three peculiar free surface motions: standing-wave motions similar to those of linear sloshing, a run-up phenomenon along the vertical sidewall at the moment of turn-over of the container, and gradually propagating bore motion from the sidewall to the interior fluid region, like a hydraulic jump. © 2011 The Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers.