2D Finite element analysis of rectangular water tank with separator wall using direct coupling

The present paper deals with the analysis of water tank with elastic separator wall. Both fluid and structure are discretized and modeled by eight node-elements. In the governing equations, pressure for the fluid domain and displacement for the separator wall are considered as nodal variables. A method namely, direct coupled for the analysis of water tank has been carried out in this study. In direct coupled approach, the solution of the fluid-structure system is accomplished by considering these as a single system. The hydrodynamic pressure on tank wall is presented for different lengths of tank. The results show that the magnitude of hydrodynamic pressure is quite large when the distances between the separator wall and tank wall are relatively closer and this is due to higher rotating tendency of fluid and the higher sloshed displacement at free surface.