Investigation of sloshing damping in baffled rectangular tanks subjected to the dynamic excitation

In this research, an analytical model is developed to estimate the hydrodynamic damping ratio of liquid sloshing for wall bounded baffles using the velocity potential formulation and linear wave theory. Here, an analytical solution approach and experimental investigations are conducted for describing the hydrodynamic damping which is provided by vertical and horizontal baffles in partially filled rectangular liquid tanks. In order to evaluate the accuracy of the analytical solution which is developed in present work, a series of experiments are carried out with a rectangular liquid tank excited by harmonic oscillation. The parametric study is conducted on the damping efficiencies of both vertical and horizontal baffles with various dimensions and locations. According to the results of the present investigations, the hydrodynamic damping is significantly affected by the size and location of baffles. Furthermore, the validity of the developed analytical approach as well as the effectiveness of various baffle configurations are discussed. Finally, a simple approach is proposed for estimating the damping ratios of the baffles during earthquake motions.