Research Of Fuel Sloshing In Aircraftintegral Tanks By The ALE Finite Element Method

Aircraft integral fuel tank can make full use of the remaining space inside the aircraft to increase the amount of aircraft carrying oil, so as to make the weight of aircraft structure be as little as possible. Aircraft integral fuel tank includes the fuselage integral fuel tank and the wing integral fuel tank. The shape and structure of the integral fuel tank is complex, so it is difficult to solve the problem of liquid sloshing in that kind of fuel tank. With the continuous development of the aviation industry, the aircraft not only should have high load, long distance and other performances, but also should meet the constantly improving people’s requirements of safety and comfort. Liquid sloshing in the aircraft fuel tank has a certain impact on the performances of the aircraft. The problem of liquid sloshing in the aircraft fuel tank has become a problem that aviation workers need to pay more attention to. Therefore, it is very important and valuable to find a proper method to analyze and study the liquid sloshing in the aircraft integral fuel tanks.In this paper, the ALE finite element method is used to simulate the liquid sloshing in tanks. In this method, the ALE method is chosen for establishing the control equation of the liquid sloshing problem. And the finite element method is chosen for the spatial discretization of the convection and the solid.In this paper, liquid sloshing in a tank is studied by the experimental method. The experimental results are compared with the ALE finite element method’s simulation results of liquid sloshing to verify the accuracy of the ALE finite element method. Then, the cube container, the fuselage tank and the wing tank are be taken as research objects to calculate and analyze the liquid sloshing in the containers. In this paper, the numerical simulation results of liquid sloshing in a cube container are used for studying the influence of filling volume and external excitation on the liquid sloshing. the numerical simulation results of liquid sloshing in the fuselage tanks are used for studying the influence of the location, shape and size parameters of baffles on the liquid sloshing. The paper also analyzes the anti-sloshing mechanism of baffles, in order to determine the anti-sloshing scheme of the fuselage tanks. the numerical simulation results of liquid sloshing in the wing tank are used for studying the liquid sloshing characteristics in a multi cavity container. In addition, the stress and strain of the wing tank in the process of oil sloshing are solved and analyzed in the paper. The analysis result demonstrates that filling rate and rib holes have a remarkable influence on liquid sloshing of the wing fuel tank.This paper shows that the ALE finite element method can clearly and accurately simulate the liquid sloshing in the aircraft integral fuel tanks. Through the numerical simulation calculation and analysis, this paper obtains the influence of tank movement, filling rate and baffle parameters on the liquid sloshing in the container. This paper also obtains the liquid sloshing characteristics in the wing fuel tank. The results of the research have some reference value for the design and analysis of the aircraft integral fuel tanks.