INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF SLOSHING ON THE ENERGY ABSORPTION OF TANK WAGONS CRASH

Abstract

One of the main fluid mechanics phenomena is fluid sloshing which is originated from the free surface of fluid and should be taken into account in design of fluid structures such as fuel tank wagons, ships and so on. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of tank fluid sloshing on energy absorption and reducing tank acceleration during the tank wagon impact. For this purpose, methods of software simulation and dynamics solution methods are accomplished. The assumed wagon includes a tank with the approximate volume of 95 m3 and capacity of 65 tons of fluid. Using finite element method, the tank impact is simulated based on the corresponding standards for different heights of fluid in the tank. Obtained results show fluid height increase has an inappropriate effect on energy absorption among impact however the more fluid in tank, the more time would be consumed for energy absorption in general. At the end, by using crash test results for a tank with aforementioned scale, validity of impact software simulation and dynamic solution method considering the tank fluid as mass-spring model are checked.