Sloshing in medium size tanks caused by earthquake studied by SPH

Abstract

A numerical study of sloshing effects in medium-sized liquid storage tanks subjected to earthquake is briefly presented in the paper. The following issues are considered in the study: the phenomena occurring in tanks during excitation, the amount of pressure change during sloshing, and the effects on the tank itself. The numerical model used in the study is based on the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method. The presented method can be used for simulating main nonlinear characteristics of the fluid, such as viscosity, cavitation, wave breaking, and turbulence. The reliability of the model and some of its possibilities are illustrated on a practical example.