Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2000

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Committee Chair

Victor H. Mucino.

Abstract

Partially filled tankers undergoing turns or lane change maneuvers have a lower rollover threshold than any other type of vehicle. In order to study and simulate the lateral fluid sloshing effects in partially filled elliptical and cylindrical tankers a trammel pendulum has been utilized. The fundamental basis of selecting the appropriate pendulum parameters have been obtained by matching the pendulum dynamic effects with fluid sloshing dynamic effects obtained using Finite Element (FE) fluid models. Elliptical tankers with different aspect ratios and different levels of fill were considered. The trammel pendulum effects were verified against fluid models from two packages (FLUENT and LS_Dyna 3D) as well as the literature within and beyond the linear range of pendulum oscillation. The trammel pendulum produced up to 20% more lateral forces and moments than the fluid models beyond the linear range, which renders the pendulum model more conservative from the tanker stability point of view.;Two- and three-dimensional tanker models were used to simulate the tanker's lateral stability using the trammel pendulums. The effects of several parameters such as ellipse ratio, fluid polar moment of inertia, suspension compliance, and the frequency of excitation on tanker stability were studied. The models predicted critical fill levels that agree with the experimental results and the values reported in the literature based on much more complex and time consuming experimental and analytical methods. In addition, the rollover thresholds were predicted with acceptable level of accuracy (+8%), especially with the more detailed models.

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