Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2001

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Committee Chair

Mridul Gautam.

Abstract

Partially filled heavy-duty tanker trucks maneuvering constant radius turns or lane change maneuvers have lower rollover threshold than other vehicles because of the high center of gravity and dynamic sloshing of the liquid payload. Payloads are often toxic and hence, rollover accidents can be catastrophic. Therefore, attempts to increase the threshold velocity and predicting its value under various on-road maneuvers are of paramount importance.;This research was aimed at studying the effects of baffles on reducing the lateral sloshing and thereby, improving the stability of heavy-duty trucks. Various configurations (horizontal, vertical, horizontal and vertical, and diagonal) of baffles were considered for this purpose. The objective of this project was to determine the best configuration of baffles for various shapes of tank-containers, percent fill levels, and different kinds of maneuvers.;Damping effects of the kinematic viscosity of the fluid inside the tank were also studied in this research. This was done to determine the trammel pendulum parameters for pendulum-fluid dynamic effect matching. Trammel pendulums can also be used to study and simulate the lateral fluid sloshing effects in partially filled tankers.;Kinematic viscosity of the fluid was found to have no significant damping effect on the lateral fluid sloshing. Conclusions were drawn regarding the effects of various baffles. Damping provided at the free surface of the fluid was found to have the best effect. Horizontal and diagonal baffles were found to be the best for constant radius turns with a maximum reduction of 60% in the moments. In a TOP lane change maneuver, diagonal baffles were found more effective for lower fill levels up to 50%. For fill levels higher than 50% vertical baffles were found to be the best configuration.

Download

Share

COinS