The coupling analysis of tank motion and sloshing by a fully nonlinear decoupling method

In this paper, the three degrees-of-freedom motion of a two-dimensional rectangular liquid tank under wave action is simulated by the boundary element method in time domain. The coupling effects between tank motion and internal sloshing flow are investigated in partially filled conditions. The fourth-order Runge–Kutta method is adopted to update the wave shape and velocity potential on the free surface. The fully nonlinear mutual dependence of the incident wave, tank motion and internal sloshing flow is decoupled through an auxiliary function method, by which the liquid tank acceleration can be obtained directly without knowing the pressure distribution. The corresponding validation of numerical model is carried out and indicates that the accuracy of the present method is satisfactory to evaluate the dynamic responses of tank and sloshing motion. The corresponding response amplitude operators of tank motions for various wave frequencies, amplitudes and filling conditions are obtained, and the nonlinear coupling effects of sloshing flow on the tank responses are analyzed. It is found that the coupling effects have significant influence on sway and roll motion while have little impact on heave motion. The most important coupling effects on roll motion are the split of peak. In addition, due to the nonlinearity of sloshing flow, the roll motion amplitude is not linearly proportional to wave amplitude.