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2004-01-0403
Fuel slosh occurs when the vehicle that holds the fuel tank Since these “built-in” baffles cannot be manufactured
is accelerating or decelerating. The slosh behavior can to contain holes that allow fuel movement, the baffles’
affect the stability and control of the vehicle especially shape, size and location become critical factors to
when the vehicle fuel to gross weight ratio is high, such as reduce the sloshing noise. The current research uses
in a spaceship or an airplane. In a smaller scale, such as computer simulations and slosh experiments to
in an automobile fuel tank, fuel slosh does not create investigate and analyze new baffle designs. To obtain
significant stability and control problem since the fuel to a thorough understanding of the slosh phenomenon,
gross weight ratio is relatively small. However, fuel slosh high speed videos combined with simultaneous sound
in an automobile fuel tank does propose another type of measurements were used to record the sloshing
problem: the sloshing noise generated inside the tank. behavior.
The sloshing noise problem becomes more significant as
the customer’s expectation of a quiet automobile gets The main objectives of the current research are to test,
higher. Therefore, the current research tries to reduce or analyze and compare five curved baffle designs and
eliminate the sloshing noise problem by designing determine an optimum solution. Since the slosh
behavior depends very much on the shape, the
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location and the number of baffles inside the tank, testing safety reasons, the working fluid in the slosh
every design scenario can be a very tedious process. experiment was water. Therefore, the working fluid for
Therefore, the secondary objective of the current research the computer simulation was also water to match the
is to verify the validity of the computer simulation results. slosh experiment. Since water is a very common fluid,
If the simulation results are found to be highly correlated all of its properties can be extracted from the fluid
with the experimental results, computer simulations can database in FLOW-3D®. Some major initial conditions
be used to obtain the optimum solution, and testing of the are listed in Table 1.
optimum solution and the alternatives can be kept to
minimum.
COMPUTER SIMULATION
Figure 3—Fuel tank geometry used in the computer simulation.
FUEL TANK GEOMETRY
s = − 15 . 5 sin ω t
where ω = 2 π = 2 π = π s − 1
T 2s
ds
v = = (− 15 .5 × ω ) cos ωt
dt
(a)
a =
dv
dt
(
= 15 . 5 × ω 2
)sin ωt
(
= 15 . 5 × π 2
)sin π t = 153 sin π t
∑ [0 .5 × cmass × (u ' 2
+ v '2 + w'2 )] (2)
M
(c)
where cmass = mass of fluid in each cell
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
ESTIMATED MEAN KE AND AVERAGE TURBULENT KE
After simulating the slosh phenomenon for different
Estimated mean kinetic energy and average turbulent baffle designs, fluid levels and periods of motion, slosh
kinetic energy were obtained from the simulation results experiments were carried out to verify the computer
for different baffle designs. Both of these kinetic energies simulation results. The same variables were used in
are normalized values, and their units are both the slosh experiments. Figure 6 shows the schematic
[energy/unit mass], i.e. [cm2/s2]. diagram of the experimental setup. The test stand
consists of the variable speed electric motor, the motor
According to Clark [5], estimated mean and average stand, the connecting rod, the motion guide and the
turbulent kinetic energy are defined below as they are main frame. Four 2 × 4 wood pieces were used to
computed in the program code: mount the fuel tank model to the motion guide. The
fuel tank model was made by ½ inch thick acrylic. The
Estimated mean KE = sound meter was placed at the side of the fuel tank
and 20cm away from the fuel tank to record the
sloshing noise generated from both shallow and deep
ends. The high speed video camera was placed
∑ [0 .5 × cmass × (u 2
+ v2 + w2 )] (1)
further away to record the motion of the fuel in the
tank.
M
4
Figure 6—Schematic diagram of the experimental setup. Figure 7—The screen shot of MiDAS software with combined video
and data display.
The actual fuel tank and the fuel tank model are made of
different materials and they have different sound radiation ACOUSTIC ENCLOSURE
characteristics. However, note that the purpose of this
work was not to measure the sound level radiating from a The background noise due to the electric motor turned
real fuel tank. Instead, the purpose was to obtain the on was around 75dB(A). An acoustic enclosure was
optimum baffle shape and location. Therefore, the results built to damp out the motor noise. Figure 8 shows the
obtained from the fuel tank model were adequate. experimental setup with the acoustic enclosure. After
the acoustic enclosure was installed, the background
The working fluid was water, which has different but noise due to the electric motor turned on was reduced
similar fluid properties than gasoline. by approximately 15dB(A).
BAFFLE FABRICATION
HIGH SPEED VIDEO RECORDING AND DATA
ACQUISITION All baffles used in the slosh experiments were made of
Styrofoam. A large piece of 1-inch think Styrofoam
The high speed video camera used was MotionScope PCI was cut into many pieces of the shape of the baffle. All
1000 Series manufactured by Redlake MASD, Inc. The these pieces were then glued together to form a
highest recording frame rate the equipment could achieve complete baffle. The complete baffle was wrapped by
was 1000 frames/sec. However, 125 frames/sec was a thin plastic sheet to prevent the fluid from dissolving
used in the experiments to extend the recording time to 4 the glue and to enhance the adhesive ability of the
seconds and lower the light source requirement. waterproof tape, which was used to hold the baffles
onto the fuel tank model.
The data acquisition system used was called Motion &
Integrated Data Analysis System (MiDAS) manufactured
by Xcitex Inc. The data collected was synchronized with
the video and displayed in a single computer program.
Figure 7 shows a screen shot of the combined video and
data display.
5
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Period of motion = 3.0s
6
Period of motion = 2.5s
baffle designs were used, and they were put in the
same positions as in the computer simulations. Tables
Fluid levels 6.5cm 9.0cm 11.5cm 14cm 8, 9 and 10 summarize the experimental results.
No-baffle
13.1 4.1 3.4 6.3
configuration Period of motion = 2.0s
Design #1 13.5 12.1 7.1 2.8
Fluid levels 6.5cm 9.0cm 11.5cm 14cm
Design #2 19 14.5 8.9 3.6
No-baffle
66 70 75 76
Design #3 15.6 17 8.1 4.3 configuration
Design #5 65 66 66 69
Table 8—Peak noise generated from the fluid slosh at period of
motion of 2.0s. Sound level unit—dB(A)
Period of motion = 3.0s
Design #4 59 59 64 62
1. After comparing the slosh patterns and the mean Peak Mean Kinetic Energy and Peak Noise Level
kinetic energy graphs, it is concluded that the peak
kinetic energy of the fluid always happens when the In the first part of this correlation analysis, the peak
fluid is sloshing toward either the shallow or deep end mean kinetic energy and the peak noise level from all
of the tank as shown from Figure 10. baffle designs were used to obtain one correlation
factor. The correlation factor obtained was 0.35. This
shows again that high mean kinetic energy predicted in
the computer simulation does not always correspond
to high sloshing noise in the slosh experiment. This is
because high sloshing noise in the slosh experiments
only occurs when the fluid hits the top of the tank. For
low fluid level slosh situations, the fluid usually does
not slosh high enough to hit the top of the tank.
12