Sloshing of Fluid Between Rotating Inner Vertical Shaft and Stationary Outer Casing

Unsteady behaviors of free surface around a rotating vertical shaft in cylindrical stationary casing were investigated. Experiments were carried out with various rotating frequency of the shaft at two initial water levels. An axi-symmetrical free surface oscillation took place when the rotational speed of the shaft became larger than a certain value. The frequency of the free surface oscillation decreased as the rotating frequency increased. A theoretical model was developed, and the mechanisms of the free surface oscillation were clarified. The oscillation was found to be a sloshing mode excited by the change of fluid angular velocity, caused by the change of wetted areas on the inner rotating shaft and outer stationary casing, associated with the change in free surface height.

Challenges and procedures for experiments with steady and unsteady model velocities in a water towing tank

Challenges for steady and unsteady model motion in a large water towing tank and procedures to overcome them are the focus of the presented work. Some challenges are attributed to experiments conducted in water, whereas others are uniquely ascribed to a towing tank facility. Data convergence and outlier detection are studied based on the phase averaged pressure in order to ensure proper data quality. Pressure measurements are performed with non-surface mounted sensors. Therefore, inertia effects are detrimental when the attached tubing is not fully de-aired. A procedure for de-airing the pressure sensor cavity and its tubing is described. An iterative approach is developed that compensates for nonlinear distortion of the model’s velocity profile. Further, vibration effects are examined by distinguishing mechanical and flow-induced frequencies that scale with the instantaneous model velocity. Sloshing waves are excited, which are a function of the water basin size. The first sloshing mode defines the required sensor offset time in between test cases when prevailing sloshing waves have not fully decayed. This appropriate selection of sensor offset time reduces data scatter and enables a reasonable waiting time in between test cases. A skim plate installed just below the water surface offers a potential solution to alleviate surface wave effects over the model.

The sloshing and diapycnal meridional overturning circulations in the Indian Ocean

The meridional overturning circulation (MOC) seasonality in the Indian Ocean is investigated with the ocean state estimate product, ECCO v4r3. The vertical movements of water parcels are predominantly due to the heaving of the isopycnals all over the basin except off the western coast. Aided by the linear propagation equation of long baroclinic Rossby waves, the driving factor determining the strength of the seasonal MOC in the Indian Ocean is identified as the zonally-integrated Ekman pumping anomaly, rather than the Ekman transport concluded in earlier studies. A new concept of sloshing MOC is proposed, and its difference with the classic Eulerian MOC leads to the so-called diapycnal MOC. The striking resemblance of the Eulerian and sloshing MOCs implies the seasonal variation of the Eulerian MOC in the Indian Ocean is a sloshing mode. The shallow overturning cells manifest themselves in the diapycnal MOC as the most remarkable structure. New perspectives on the upwelling branch of the shallow overturn in the Indian Ocean are offered based on diapycnal vertical velocity. The discrepancy among the observation-based estimates on the bottom inflow across 32°S of the basin is interpreted with the seasonal sloshing mode. Consequently, the “missing mixing” in the deep Indian Ocean is attributed to the overestimated diapycnal volume fluxes. Decomposition of meridional heat transport (MHT) into sloshing and diapycnal components clearly shows the dominant mechanism of MHT in the Indian Ocean in various seasons.

Response of an Annular Tuned Liquid Damper Equipped With Damping Screens

Annular tuned liquid dampers (TLDs) may be installed in slender structures with limited floor space, in which people and utilities must pass through the core, such as a wind turbine or observation tower. This study investigates an annular-shaped TLD equipped with damping screens. A linearized equivalent mechanical model capable of capturing the fundamental sloshing mode response of an annular TLD is presented. An experimental shake table testing program is completed to assess the performance of the model. Thirty-six frequency sweep tests consisting of various TLD configurations, excitation amplitudes, and excitation directions are completed. Good agreement is observed between the linearized equivalent mechanical model and experimental wave heights, sloshing forces, and energy dissipated per cycle that have been filtered to include only the fundamental sloshing mode response. The model is also observed to be in good agreement with experimental data for different excitation directions. The model is coupled to a generalized structure to investigate the response of a structure equipped with an annular TLD. The annular TLD is found to reduce the response of a generalized offshore wind turbine structure undergoing harmonic force excitation. The annular TLD provides performance comparable to an optimal linear tuned mass damper (TMD) with the same properties for a range of force excitation amplitudes.

Experimental and Numerical Study for Drillship Moonpool Gap Resonances in Stationary and Transit Conditions in Wave Flume

Experimental and numerical studies are performed to investigate drillship moonpool gap resonance in both stationary and transit conditions in a wave flume. This study contains an assessment of the influence of size and depth of the moonpool on the gap resonance phenomenon. An openfoam-based computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was established, and the numerical data show good agreement with measurements from the model tests. Both piston and sloshing mode gap resonances are clearly observed. This study shows that the gap resonance frequency and wave elevation response amplitude operator (RAO) inside the moonpool are dependent on its dimensions, and the transit speed of the drillship and wave direction significantly influences the characteristics of gap resonances. It is noticed that the nearness of the wave flume sidewalls significantly influences the piston and sloshing wave elevation RAO at certain frequencies regardless of moonpool length and draft.

Experimental Research on Water Column Oscillations in Moonpool of a Drillship in Downtime Period

A drillship is a kind of merchant vessel with a self-propulsion unit and drilling equipment used for oil exploration. The major difference with the merchant vessel is the moonpool. A moonpool is a vertical opening from the continuous deck to the keel plate of the vessel for drilling operations and other applications like the launching of measuring instruments. This moonpool opening allowing the entry of water into the vessel. The water motion within the moonpool is mostly related to the encountering wave frequency, the geometry of the moonpool and the draft condition of the vessel. The major amplitude of the water particle motion within the moonpool, either may be in the sloshing mode or in piston mode. This water motion leads to the entry of green water on the deck during the rough weather condition. This is known as the downtime period of a drillship, during this time the operation of the drillship is in off-mode. This paper presents the study about the downtime period of drillship experimentally with rectangular moonpool.

Coupled shallow-water fluid sloshing in an upright annular vessel

The coupled motion of shallow-water sloshing in a horizontally translating upright annular vessel is considered. The vessel’s motion is restricted to a single space dimension, such as for Tuned Liquid Damper systems. For particular parameters, the system is shown to support an internal 1 : 1 resonance, where the frequency of coupled sloshing mode which generates the vessel’s motion is equal to the frequency of a sloshing mode which occurs in a static vessel. Using a Lagrangian Particle Path formation, the fully nonlinear motion of the system is simulated using an efficient numerical symplectic integration scheme. The scheme is based on the implicit-midpoint rule which conserves energy and preserves the energy partition between the fluid and the vessel over many time-steps. Linear and nonlinear results are presented, including those showing the system transitioning to higher-frequency eigenmodes as the fluid depth is reduced.

A two-dimensional numerical and experimental study of piston and sloshing resonance in moonpools with recess

The piston and first sloshing modes of two-dimensional moonpools with recess are investigated. Dedicated forced heave experiments are carried out. Different recess lengths are tested from $1/4$ to $1/2$ of the length of the moonpool at the mean waterline. A theoretical model to calculate the natural frequencies is developed based on linearized potential flow theory and eigenfunction expansion. Two numerical methods are implemented: a boundary element method (BEM) and a Navier–Stokes solver (CFD). Both the BEM and CFD have linearized free-surface and body-boundary conditions. As expected, the BEM over-predicts the moonpool response significantly, in particular at the first sloshing mode. The CFD is in general able to predict the maximum moonpool response adequately, both at the piston and first sloshing modes. Both numerical methods fail to predict the Duffing-type behaviour at the first sloshing mode, due to the linearized free-surface conditions. The Duffing behaviour is more pronounced for the largest recess. The main source of damping in the proximity of the first sloshing mode is discussed.

Experimental Study of Near-Fault Effect on Sloshing Mode of Storage Liquid in Tanks

The long period velocity pulse is recognized as one of the characteristics of near-fault ground motions, and hence the response of vibration modes with lower frequencies will be amplified owing to the resonant effect. In general, the sloshing frequency of storage liquid is low and the period is similar to the pulse period of near-fault ground motions. Compared to the far-field ground motions, the induced sloshing height will be amplified by the near-fault ground motions. Therefore, it is worth paying attention to the resonant effect of near-fault ground motions on the sloshing mode of storage liquid in tanks. An experiment was implemented to study the resonant response of sloshing mode. The purpose of this experiment is to estimate the slosh height and the associated total volume of water splashing out of the tank under near-fault ground motions, and also to determine the relationship between the resonant response and the input velocity pulse. This paper aims to describe the test plan in detail, and it consists of (1) design of the scaled storage tank and water depth, (2) selection and processing of the input motions including the original near-fault ground motions, extracted velocity pulse or extracted bandpass signals for resonance analysis, and also impulse motion for free vibration, (3) setup of measure instrument, and (4) the experimental procedures as well. Preliminary analysis results are compared with the code-specified values that is determined by the industrial standards and guidelines for general seismic conditions. It is noted that the proposed prediction equation can be applied to the seismic design and evaluation of spent fuel pool in nuclear power plants.