Impact of liquid sloshing on the behaviour of vehicles carrying liquid cargo

The purpose of this paper is to study the stability and the behaviour of the dynamics of tank vehicles carrying liquid fuel cargo. Liquid forces and moments due to liquid sloshing is one of the most serious problems strongly related to the instability of tank vehicles. In this paper, a simplified analytical model of liquid sloshing is developed using the Navier–Stokes equations. Simulation results obtained using the full complex Navier–Stokes equations modulated with numerical commercial software are compared to the simplified analytical model. The comparison highlights the validity assumptions used on the analytical model. The results show a good correlation under single or double lane change and turning manoeuvres. In the second part for this paper, a full dynamic vehicle is coupled with the analytical liquid model. This simulation result is compared to a rigid vehicle cargo.