Effect of Fuel Sloshing on the Damping of a Scaled Wing Model—Experimental Testing and Numerical Simulations

Abstract

Vertical sloshing of liquid-filled tanks has been shown to induce substantial dissipative effects. Building upon these previous results obtained on simpler sloshing systems, a scaled wing prototype is presented here, equipped with a fuel tank that allows the observation of liquid sloshing and quantification of induced dynamic effects. Based on experiments conducted at a 50% filling level for a baffled wing fuel tank model, substantial additional damping effects were demonstrated with liquid inside the tank regardless of the vertical acceleration amplitude. A numerical model based on a finite element wing structural model and a surrogate 1DOF fluid model was explored, with numerical simulations showing good agreement compared to experiments throughout the decaying motion of the system.