Coupled slosh dynamics of liquid-filled, composite cylindrical tanks

The present paper concerns the hydrodynamic coupling of fluid with laminate d composite cylinders under small displacements. A numerical model using fi nite-element technique is presented to study the dynamics of inviscid, inco mpressible liquid inside thin-walled, flexible, composite cylindrical tanks . The finite-element equations of motion for both the tank wall and the flu id domain are formulated and numerically integrated using Newmark's predict or-multicorrector algorithm. Both fluid transients and structure dynamics p roblems are dealt with separately before solving for the coupled interactio n problems. The solution procedures are applied to both rigid and flexible fluid-tank systems to demonstrate the effect of tank flexibility on the slo sh characteristics and the structural response.