A Study of the Liquid Slosh Response in Horizontal Cylindrical Tanks

Abstract An experimental and analytical study was conducted to determine the liquid natural frequencies and the resultant slosh forces in horizontal cylindrical tanks. This paper presents a study of the liquid slosh response of the small and the large slosh wave heights. In the former case, an effective calculation method of the longitudinal slosh response is presented by substituting an equivalent rectangular tank for a horizontal cylindrical tank. The calculated natural frequencies, slosh wave heights and slosh forces are in good agreement with the experimental ones. The transverse slosh response is also discussed. In the latter case, impulsive slosh forces were observed for longitudinal excitation, when the slosh liquid hit the top of the tank. The measured slosh forces including the impulsive forces were larger than the calculated ones. In order to determine the maximum slosh force, the experiments were parametrically conducted with several tank aspect ratios, liquid levels and excitation amplitudes. The obtained maximum slosh forces for longitudinal and transverse direction were about 0.28 and 0.16 times the full liquid weight of the tank, respectively.