Suppression Characteristics of Sloshing in Vessels by a Bulkhead

This paper deals with suppression characteristics of sloshing in the vessel by a bulkhead, which divides the vessel vertically into two sections but communicates with two sections at the lower part of the vessel. The sloshing mode is separated into the U-tube mode sloshing and the sloshing mode in the separated tank. The effect of aperture height beneath the bulkhead and exciting amplitude on the suppression characteristics of U-tube mode sloshing is investigated experimentally. As a result, following phenomena are clarified. Three types of flow pattern are observed; the flow pattern A with unsteady vortexes, the flow pattern B with single swirl and a vortex, and the flow pattern C with twin swirls. The flow pattern changes from A to B or C with increasing the exciting amplitude. The damping ratio with the bulkhead is much larger than that without the bulkhead. The damping generated by the bulkhead depends on the exciting amplitude. The flow pattern plays an important role for dissipation of the energy of the sloshing. In particular, the vortexes and swirls increase the energy dissipation of the sloshing.