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Tutorial: Fuel Tank Sloshing
Tutorial: Fuel Tank Sloshing
Introduction
The purpose of this tutorial is to investigate the free surface movement of liquid fuel in a
tank under varying acceleration scenarios and to determine the most suitable configuration
of the fuel tank to ensure continuous fuel supply through the pick-up pipe.
Two configurations of the fuel tank are considered—tank with internal baffles and tank
without internal baffles. You will compare the two configurations on the basis of liquid
interface and velocity vector plots generated for each case.
This tutorial demonstrates how to do the following:
• Set up and solve a transient problem using the pressure-based solver and the volume
of fluid (VOF) model.
• Compare the two configurations on the basis of liquid interface and velocity vector
plots generated.
Prerequisites
This tutorial is written with the assumption that you have completed Tutorial 1 from
ANSYS FLUENT 13.0 Tutorial Guide, and that you are familiar with the ANSYS FLUENT
navigation pane and menu structure. Some steps in the setup and solution procedure will
not be shown explicitly.
In this tutorial, you will use VOF model. If you have not used this model before, refer to
Section 26.3, Setting Up the VOF Model in ANSYS FLUENT 13.0 User’s Guide.
Assuming that you are using a quad core single processor machine with a clock speed of 3.80
GHz, this tutorial will take:
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Problem Description
The tutorial considers two configurations of the fuel tank for comparison. Figure 1 shows
the tank with internal baffles. Figure 2 shows the tank without baffles. The tank undergoes
an acceleration of 9.81 m/s2 in the positive X direction. As the tank accelerates in the +X
direction, the liquid experiences an equal and opposite reaction in the −X direction. After
1.5 seconds, the acceleration in the X direction stops and only gravity (in the −Z direction)
acts on the liquid in the tank.
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Strategy
A prior analysis indicates that the pick-up pipe might not be completely submerged after
0.45 seconds of acceleration and after 1.25 seconds of acceleration. An analysis of both
tank designs will be compared after 0.45 seconds and 1.25 seconds to confirm that the pick-
up pipe in the tank without baffles is not submerged in fuel while the tank with baffles
will be analyzed to see if the baffles fix the problem and keep the pick-up pipe completely
submerged in fuel. The tank with baffles will be analyzed first. Then, the baffles will be
switched from wall boundaries to interior boundaries and the tank without baffles will be
analyzed under the same conditions as the tank with baffles.
Preparation
Step 1: Mesh
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3. Scale the mesh using a scale factor of 0.01 in the X, Y , and Z directions.
General −→ Scale...
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4. Reorder the domain until the bandwidth reduction is of the order of 1.0.
Mesh −→ Reorder −→Domain
Step 3: Models
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Step 4: Materials
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ii. Retain the default settings and close the Wall dialog box.
(b) Set the boundary conditions for pick-out.
Boundary Conditions −→ pick-out
i. Retain the selection of mixture from the Phase drop-down list and click the
Edit... button to open the Pressure Outlet dialog box.
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(d) Enable Specified Operating Density and retain the value of 1.225 kg/m3 for Op-
erating Density.
(e) Click OK to close the Operating Conditions dialog box.
Step 8: Solution
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(a) Select Phases... and Volume fraction from the Surface of Constant drop-down lists.
(b) Select kerosene-liquid from the Phase drop-down list.
(c) Enter 0.5 for Iso-Values and vf05 for New Surface Name.
(d) Click Create and close the Iso-Surface dialog box.
5. Clip the fluid-all surface to the values of volume fraction of kerosene-liquid between
0.5 and 1.
Surface −→Iso-Clip...
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(a) Select Phases... and Volume fraction from the Clip to Values of drop-down lists.
(b) Select kerosene-liquid from the Phase drop-down list.
(c) Select fluid-all from the Clip Surface list.
(d) Enter 0.5 and 1 for Min and Max, respectively.
(e) Enter clipf for New Surface Name.
(f) Click Clip and close the Iso-Clip dialog box.
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(b) Click Display... in the Geometry Attributes group box to open the Display Proper-
ties dialog box.
i. Set the sliders for Red, Green, and Blue to 0, 0, and 255, respectively, in the
Colors group box.
ii. Enable Lighting in the Visibility group box.
iii. Disable Edges, Lines, and Nodes in the Visibility group box.
iv. Enable Outer Faces in the Visibility group box.
v. Click Apply and close the Display Properties dialog box.
(c) Select all the surfaces except clipf and vf05 in the Names list.
(d) Click Display... in the Geometry Attributes group box to open the Display Proper-
ties dialog box.
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8. Set the orientation of the image in the graphics window as shown in Figure 4.
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12. Specify the commands to be executed at intervals in order to capture the images for
postprocessing.
Calculation Activities (Execute Commands)−→ Create/Edit...
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2. Read the journal file (baffles.jou) to create a hardcopy of the liquid interface at
t = 0.45 s.
5. Read the journal file (baffles.jou) to create a hardcopy of the liquid interface at
t = 1.25 s.
8. Read the journal file (baffles.jou) to create a hardcopy of the liquid interface at
t = 1.50 s.
11. Increase the Ending Time to 2.5 s and run the calculation.
12. Read the journal file (baffles.jou) to create a hardcopy of the liquid interface at
t = 2.5 s.
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2. Change the boundary condition Type for the baffle surfaces baf1, baf2, and baf3 from
wall to interior.
In the original mesh file, the baffles are denoted as wall surfaces.
3. Verify that the Gravitational Acceleration in the X, Y , and Z directions are -9.81 m/s2 ,
0 m/s2 , and -9.81 m/s2 , respectively.
4. Initialize the solution and patch in the liquid kerosene level. For details, refer to Step
8: 3–5.
5. Create a new journal file (no-baffles.jou) to track the liquid interface in the tank
with time.
File −→ Write −→Start Journal...
(a) Display the mesh.
Graphics and Animations −→ Mesh −→ Set Up...
i. Deselect all the surfaces in the Surfaces list.
ii. Select wall from the Surface Types list.
iii. Select clipf and vf05 from the Surfaces list.
iv. Click Display and close the Mesh Display dialog box.
(b) Enable Light On and Headlight On.
Graphics and Animations −→ Lights...
(c) Set the view as View-1.
Graphics and Animations −→ Views...
i. Select View-1 from the Views list.
ii. Click Apply and close the Views dialog box.
(d) Create a hardcopy of the fluid interface.
File −→Save Picture...
i. Click the Save... button to open the Select File dialog box.
ii. Enter no-baffles-image-%t.tif for Hardcopy File and click OK.
iii. Close the Save Picture dialog box.
(e) Stop writing to the journal file.
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7. Update the autosave command for the data file to reflect a new file name and/or
storage folder.
Calculation Activities −→ Edit...
9. Read the journal file (no-baffles.jou) to create a hardcopy of the liquid interface
at t = 0.45 s.
11. Increase the Ending Time to 1.25 s and run the calculation.
12. Read the journal file (no-baffles.jou) to create a hardcopy of the liquid interface
at t = 1.25 s.
14. Increase the Ending Time to 1.50 s and run the calculation.
15. Read the journal file (no-baffles.jou) to create a hardcopy of the liquid interface
at t = 1.50 s.
18. Increase the Ending Time to 2.5 s and run the calculation.
19. Read the journal file (no-baffles.jou) to create a hardcopy of the liquid interface
at t = 2.5 s.
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Postprocessing
1. Examine the liquid interface at times corresponding to 0.45 s and 1.25 s for both
configurations (see Figures 4, 5, 8, and 9).
2. Display velocity vectors at times corresponding to 0.45 s and 1.25 s for both config-
urations (see Figures 6, 7, 10, and 11).
(a) Create an iso-surface to display velocity vectors.
Surface −→Iso-Surface...
i. Select Mesh... and Y-Coordinate in the Surface of Constant drop-down lists.
ii. Click Compute.
iii. Enter 0.25 for Iso-Values.
iv. Enter y=0.25 for New Surface Name and click Create.
v. Close the Iso-Surface dialog box.
(b) Display velocity vectors on y=0.25 m.
Graphics and Animations −→ Vectors
i. Enable Draw Mesh in the Options group box.
The Mesh Display dialog box will open.
A. Disable Faces and enable Edges in the Options group box.
B. Select Feature from the Edge Type list and retain the default value of 20
for Feature Angle.
C. Deslect all the surfaces from the Surfaces list and click the Outline.
D. Select y=0.25 in addition to the previously selected surfaces.
E. Click Display and close the Mesh Display dialog box.
ii. Enter 5 for Scale and set Skip to 3.
iii. Select y=0.25 from the Surfaces list and click Display.
iv. Close the Vectors dialog box.
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Figure 6: Velocity Vectors at t = 0.45 s and y = 0.25 m for Tank with Baffles
Figure 7: Velocity Vectors at t = 0.45 s and y = 0.25 m for Tank Without Baffles
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Figure 10: Velocity Vectors at t = 1.25 s and y = 0.25 m for Tank with Baffles
Figure 11: Velocity Vectors at t = 1.25 s and y = 0.25 m for Tank Without Baffles
Summary
The liquid interface and velocity vector plots for the tank configurations with and without
baffles were examined. On comparing the two configurations, it was seen that the baffles
created recirculation zones at the lower z plane where the intake of the pick-up pipe was
located. This prevented kerosene from escaping the lower z plane, causing the pick-up pipe
intake to be submerged in kerosene at all times. On the other hand, the images for the
liquid interface at time 0.45 s (Figure 5) and 1.25 s (Figure 9) for the tank without baffles
showed the existance of large scale sloshing. The pick-up pipe intake was not submerged in
the kerosene, preventing the continuous intake of kerosene.
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