DOE study of ‘the effect of various parameters on fuel tank sloshing using multiphase CFD’

ABSTRACT

When a truck undergoes acceleration, braking, turning, etc., sloshing of the fuel occurs in the tank. Sloshing can be defined as a non-linear or irregular motion of free surface of fuel inside the tank. Sloshing can cause failures such as noise, irregular fuel supply, durability issues and fuel leakage. This study will address sloshing and its patterns under the effect of typical acceleration signals. The presence of baffles is known to reduce sloshing, but in the present study, it is aimed to find how sloshing pattern behaves or changes with different designs and location of baffles. Thus, DOE considering baffle’s different design parameters such as number of baffle, length of tank and location is carried out. And the number, position and size of holes on baffle are also considered in this study. The study is carried out on Volvo standard fuel tank shapes. For DOE experiments, multiphase flow Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) approach using software packages such as STAR-CCM+ and ANSA is used. Baffle parameters (Height and Position) are the major contributors to sloshing. Least affecting factors are number of holes and its size.

KEYWORDS:

• DOE
• CFD
• fuel tank
• sloshing
• multiphase

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Correction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.