5th International Congress on

Computational Mechanics and Simulation,

10-13 December 2014, India

NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF SLOSHING IN

SECTORED WATER POOL SUBJECTED TO EARTHQUAKE
ESWARAN M1, G.R. REDDY and R. K. SINGH
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, 400085.
1
E-mail: Presenting Author, eswarm21@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
The sloshing phenomenon is well understood in regular cylindrical and rectangular liquid tanks
subjected to earthquake. Seismic behavior of water in sectored annular tank which is located in
advanced reactor is not well understood and found necessary to investigate the subject in detail. For
this, the annular tank is modeled along with water and the numerical simulation is carried out. The
sinusoidal and simulated earthquake motion is applied separately as a volume force. For the
earthquake case, time history is generated compatible to the design floor response spectrum. The
water free surface has been captured by Volume of Fluid (VOF) technique and Navier Strokes
equations are solved by Finite volume method. Results such as sloshing heights and shear forces
generated in the water considering with and without structure interaction effects have been
presented. The wavelet analysis is performed to show the frequency variation along the time.

Keywords: Fluid structure interaction; Earthquake; Volume of fluid; Sloshing.


Introduction

An advanced reactor is being designed and developed to achieve large-scale use of thorium for the
generation of commercial nuclear power. In this reactor, an annular water pool is located in the
dome region of the inner containment of reactor building. This reservoir is designed to perform
several passive safety functions. An 8000 m3 capacity annular water pool is located in the dome
portion of inner containment at higher elevation, serves as a heat sink for the residual heat removal
and several other passive systems. There are eight compartments in the annular water pool (As
shown in Fig. 1) which are interconnected to each other.
In this problem, wavelet tool is used to find the sloshing frequencies information. The Fourier
transforms provide the spectral coefficients which are independent of time i.e. they can give the
amplitude-frequency information and does not have any information about frequency with respect
to time. Thus, it is useful only for a stationary signal where the amplitude-frequency does not
change with time. But, in real life cases the signals are time dependent and also non-stationary. In
such cases a scan analysis using the Short Term Fourier Transform (STFT) is used but it has its

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limitations like it can give information only about the amplitude and frequency, but not anything
about the time and frequency relation. The limitations of STFT are overcome by the wavelet
transform which gives a better idea about the time-frequency information about the signals. The
wavelet transform is a linear convolution of a given one dimensional signal which is to be analysed
and the mother wavelet (t ) . Mathematically a wavelet transform is as shown below:
W ( s, b ) =

p (t )
s

dt
s

* t

(1)




Fig. 1. Annular water pool in isometric view and plan

where, W(s, b) is the wavelet coefficient, the asterisk sign denotes the complex conjugate, b is the
translation parameter and s is the scale parameter. There is a number of mother wavelet which is
used in practice but only some of the mother wavelets such as Mexican hat wavelet, Gabor wavelet
and Morlet wavelet are used in the field of fluid dynamics. Wavelet has been used which is given
by,

(t ) =

1
2
4 e i o t e ( o t / ) / 2

(2)

Where = 2 ln(2) and 0 is the number of wave in the wavelets. In practice, the value of

0 varies from 5 to 12 and generally it is taken as 6. A frequency resolution of 12 is chosen when

frequency of resolution of a signal is more important than time resolution.

Numerical Investigation
In this paper, among the eight compartments in the annular water pool, three compartments
have been taken for analysis. Grid arrangement is shown in Fig. 2. The side wall thickness is 500
mm and bottom is 1000 mm. Height of the water and air is 8000 mm and 1000 mm respectively. The
fluid domain is divided around 18,000 sub domains and tank wall is divided into 8000. The values
of warpage and Jacobian matrix are found within acceptable limits. The NS equation has been
solved in each sub volumes in the fluid domains. Cell centered average value has been taken. The

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water, air and concrete wall properties considered in the analysis are depicted given in Table 1. The
VOF method has been used to capture the index of volume fraction in each cell.

t

Fig. 2. Grid arrangement of annular water pool

Development of Random Waves

A user subroutine function is developed to call a random acceleration data and applied on the all
the tank fluid in terms of gravity force. Implicit pressure and shear stress conditions have been
applied on the fluid solid interfaces. Air at top is fixed pressure condition (at atmosphere
condition). The free surface elevation has been captured every 0.005 sec.
15.00

8.50
8.00

Floor Response Spectra at GDWP SLAB LEVEL

EL. 137.00 m (Node 19) in X-Direction

13.00
12.00

=1%
=2%
=4%

11.00
10.00

Sa /g

8.00
7.00
6.00

4.00

8.00

4.50
4.00
3.50

2.00
1.00
0.00
0.00

2.00

4.00

6.00

8.00

10.00

12.00

14.00

16.00

18.00

6.00

4.00

1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
0.00

3.00

=1%
=2%
=4%

10.00

3.00
2.50
2.00

5.00

Floor Response Spectra at GDWP SLAB LEVEL

EL. 137.00 m (Node 19) in Z - Direction

12.00

=1%
=2%
=4%

6.00
5.50
5.00

9.00

Sa /g

14.00

Floor Response Spectra at GDWP SLAB LEVEL

EL. 137.00 m (Node 19) in Y-Direction

7.50
7.00
6.50

Sa /g

14.00

2.00

10.00

20.00

20.00

30.00

40.00

50.00

0.00
0.00

5.00

10.00

Frequency (Hz)

15.00

20.00

25.00

30.00

35.00

Frequency (Hz)

Frequency (Hz)

Longitudinal (x)
Vertical (y)
Lateral (z)
Fig. 3. Floor response spectrum data for water pool at 137 m







d^

d

d^

Longitudinal (x)
Vertical (y)
Lateral (z)
Fig.4. Acceleration- time history for water pool at 137 m
To study the response of annular water pool under seismic load a time history is generated from
floor response spectrum along three orthogonal directions separately. Floor response spectrum data
(FRS) for reactor building at 137 m is shown in Fig. 3. The 5 % broaden spectrum is generated

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from FRS. Acceleration time history is generated using SIMQKE code [33] in three direction
separately. These graphs are shown in Fig. 4.

Case

1
2
3

Excitation

Table 1. Numerical case studies

Sectors
Excitation
considered in
Excitation
Amplitude
annular water
direction
(m)
pool tank

Sinusoidal
Excitation
Sinusoidal
Excitation
Random
excitation

Excitation
Frequency
(Hz)

0.03

First mode

xyz

0.03

First mode

xyz

137m FRS data

Condition
Flexible
wall
Flexible
wall
Flexible
wall

Results and Discussions

Validation of CFD slosh height through analytical relations.
To validate the present method, the 2-D tank which is 570 mm long and 300 mm high is excited
with A sin(t ) . The water depth is 150 mm and A=5 mm (Fig. 5). The lowest sloshing frequency
estimated is 1 = 6.0578 rad/sec. The frequency ratio is kept as 0.583. Liquid free surface elevation
has been calculated from the following third order analytical relations (Faltinsen, 2000) and
compared with present numerical simulation results as shown in Fig. 6.

a n
( x, t ) = a cos( n t ) cos( k n x) +
g

1 n 4 + g 2 k n 2 1 3 n 4 g 2 k n 2 3 n 4 g 2 k n 2

4
4
2
2
2

8
2
n

(
4
)

n
n
n
2n

cos( 2k x) (3)

n
2
2
4
2

1 n 2 n n 3g 2 k n
cos( 2 n t )

* cos( 2 n t ) +

2
2
2

2
n (4 n 2 n )

where the linear sloshing frequencies n = gk n tanh( k n h s ) and 2 n = g 2k n tanh( 2k n h s ) . The

initial conditions are ( x, n) t =0 = a cos(k x x ) and ( x, z ) t =0 = 0 , where a is the amplitude of the
initial wave profile, k n = n / b is the wave profile for n=0,1,2... and x is the horizontal distance
from the left wall. The results are found to be good agreement. Table 2 shows the material
properties used for this study.

Water
Air
Concrete wall

Table 2. Material properties

Viscosity
1E-6 m2/sec
Viscosity
1.846E-05 Kg/m sec
Poisson's ratio
0.3
Young Modulus
33E+09 N/m2

Density
Density
Density

1000 kg/m3
1.1614 kg/m3
2500 kg/m3

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0.015

Probe

Analytical
Present Numerical

20

Free surface elevation (m)

0.01

Air
y
x

300

0.005

-0.005

-0.01

570
All dimensions are in mm

-0.015

10

Time (Sec)

Fig. 5. The sketch of the 2-D rigid rectangular

tank.

Fig. 6. Validation between analytical and

numerical results

Estimation of mode frequency

The modal analysis is required to find the inherent dynamic properties of the any domain in terms
of its natural frequencies. In the beginning, the first mode natural frequency of water pool has been
calculated by free vibration i.e., free surface elevation ( ) of liquid under free vibration has been
captured and through FFT analysis frequency is calculated for each case. Table 3 shows the sectors
frequencies in hertz computed by CFD simulations with analytical results.

Table 3. Partially curved annular water pool wall natural frequency in Hz for different sectors
Mode
Sectors 1 and 5
Sectors 2,4, 6 and 8
Sectors 3 and 7
number
Analytical
CFD
Analytical
CFD
Analytical
CFD
1

0.257

0.262

0.212

0.2813

0.264

0.27

0.368

0.332

0.313

0.403

0.377

0.3801

0.451

0.384

0.461

0.521

0.443

0.533

Case 1: sinusoidal excitation:

A user subroutine function is developed to call the random acceleration data and applied on the all
fluid in terms of gravity force. Implicit pressure and shear stress conditions have been applied on
the fluid solid interfaces. Air at top is at fixed pressure condition (at atmosphere condition). The
free surface elevation has been captured every 0.005 sec.
Table 4. Numerical case studies
Excitation
Excitation
Sectors
Excitation
Amplitude
Frequency
Condition
Case
Excitation
considered in
direction
(m)
(Hz)
GDWP tank
Flexible
Sinusoidal
3
x
0.03
First mode
1
wall
Excitation
Flexible
Sinusoidal
3
xyz
0.03
First mode
2
wall
Excitation
Flexible
Random
3
xyz
137 m FRS data
3
wall
excitation

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GDWP under sinusoidal Excitation in multi-direction
Table 4 shows the numerical experiments to be conducted. Here GDWP is excited with first mode
natural frequency in three directions (x, y, z). Non-dimensional slosh height is obtained and shown
in Fig 7 (a) through (c). The phase-plane diagram for regular excitation is presented in Fig 7 (d). As
it is the horizontal sinusoidal excitation case, single frequency is observed along time using wavelet
analysis as shown in Fig 7 (e).
12

12

(a)

Sector 2 Right
sector 2 center

Non-dimensional slosh height

Non-dimensional slosh height

(b)

Sector 1 Right
sector 1 center

-4

-8

-12

-4

-8

-12
-2

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

24

26

-2

Time(Sec)

12

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

24

26

(d)

15

Sector 3 Right
sector 3 center

10
4
5
2

d/dt / (A )

Non-dimensional slosh height

Time(Sec)

(c)
8

20

-4

0
-5
-10

-8
-15
-12

-20
-2

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

24

26

-15

-10

-5

10

15

/A

Time(Sec)
(e)

0.9
0.8
Frequency (Hz)

0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0

10

15

20

25

Time (Sec)

Fig.7. Multi directional sinusoidal excitation (a) (c) Non-dimensional slosh height for sector 1 to
3 (d) Phase-plane diagram (e) Wavelet diagram for slosh height signal at right corner of sector 1.

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Randomly Excited GDWP
Slosh height is computed in three directional excitation, viz., two horizontal and one vertical
directions. Non-dimensional slosh height for sector 1- 3 is captured and shown in Fig. 8. FFT
diagram has shown in Fig. 9. The FFT is drown from slosh height signal at left end of the tank.
Slosh wave is slowly propagated and free surface elevation is almost equivalent to the excitation
amplitude. Sector 1 slosh height is more than other two sectors (i.e., sectors 2 & 3). The FFT is
computed from the steady state signal. Dominant frequency is near to first mode frequency (i.e.,
0.312 hz). During random excitation, the frequency for the each sector is varies with respect to the
length of the free surface. Fig 10 shows the phase plane diagram for sector1. The phase plane
diagram is visualize the presences of nonlinearity in the curve.
1.5
Inner Right
Inner Center

Sector 1

1.0
0.5
0.0
-0.5

Non-dimensional Slosh height

-1.0
-1.5
1.5
Inner Right
Inner Center

Sector 2

1.0
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0
-1.5
1.5

Inner Right
Inner Center

Sector 3

1.0
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0
-1.5
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Time (Sec)

Fig. 8. Non-dimensional Slosh height for sector 1 to 3 of the GDWP under 137 m FRS
data of AHWR

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1.2
0.008

1.0
0.8

(d / d t) / (A / 1)

Amplitude

0.006

0.004

0.002

0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
-0.2
-0.4
-0.6
-0.8

0.000
0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0

-1.0

Frequency (Hz)

-3

-2

-1

/A

Fig. 10. Phase-Plane diagram for sector 1 of

GDWP slosh height under 137 m FRS data of
AHWR

Fig. 9. FFT from slosh height for sector 1 of

GDWP under 137 m FRS data of AHWR
1
0.9
0.8
Frequency (Hz)

0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

Time (Sec)

Fig. 11. Time frequency curve for sector 1 of GDWP slosh height under 137 m FRS data
of AHWR Building
The slosh height signals are analyzed to get the frequency information along time using wavelet
analysis. Fig. 11 shows the wavelet analysis in sector1 during random excitation. Due to this
random excitation, the sector 1 and sector 2 is showing the single dominant frequency with other
lower mode frequencies. The frequencies first mode (0.315 hz) and third mode (0.54 hz). However,
from sector 2 time frequency diagram, one can see the first mode of sector 2 with different time.
Slosh height is found more at the tank wall corners of direction excitation.
The total fluid dynamic pressure for a flexible tank partially filled with liquid undergoing a
seismic motion consists of three components. The first pressure component is called the impulsive
pressure which varies synchronously with the tank base input motion. The tank wall is assumed to
be rigid, moving together with the tank base. The second component is caused by the fluid sloshing
motion. This pressure is generally referred to as the convective pressure or non-impulsive pressure,
while the third component is induced by the relative motion of the flexible tank wall with respect to
the tank base (Chang et al. 1989).

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2201

2x10

Sector 3
6

1x10

0
6

Base shear at convective mode

-1x10

-2x10
6
2x10

Sector 2
6

1x10

0
6

-1x10

-2x10
6
2x10

Sector 1
6

1x10

0
6

-1x10

-2x10

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Time (Sec)

Fig. 12. Base shear at convective mode for sector 1 through 3

Wall pressure near free surface KN/m

8
(a)

6
Sector 1

Sector 3

Maximum wave amplitute

2
is 2.7 KN/m

2
0
0
80

Wall pressure near base KN/m2

Sector 2

(b)

10

Sector 1

15

20

Sector 2

25

30

35

Sector 3

70
Maximum wave amplitute
2
is 17 KN/m

60
50
40
30
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

Time (Sec)

Fig. 13. Wall pressure (convective + impulsive) at sector 1 through 3

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This fluid-structure interaction effect results in the dynamic characteristics of the tank-liquid
system to be notably different from that of a fixed tank has led to the inclusion of a third
hydrodynamic component to quantify the dynamic response of flexible tanks namely the flexibleimpulsive component. Methods for determining the contribution of the flexible-impulsive
component to the total response (base shear, overturning moments, wall stresses) of tanks under
seismic excitations have been proposed by various researchers (Haroun and Housner 1981, Tedesco
et al. 1989).
Pressure force and shear force have been computed in all directions. Base shear is depicted in
Fig 12. Convective base shear can be computed from multiplication of convective mass and
acceleration of liquid during sloshing. Fig. 13 shows the liquid pressure near wall at free surface
and base. The maximum wall pressure is found near free surface and the tank base is 2.7 KN/m2
and 7 KN/m2 respectively. Pressure has two components, convective and impulsive pressure.
Convective pressure will cause due to liquid oscillations. Liquid oscillations are maximum at near
free surface. And Impulsive pressure is rigid liquid mass which will move along with tank.

Summary
In this paper, two case studies have been studied in detail i.e., sinusoidal excitation and random
excitation of annular water pool tank. Free vibration analysis is performed to find the first mode
sloshing frequency. Using first mode frequency, a regular sinusoidal wave is created and applied as
a volume force. For the random cases, a random wave is created using time histories compatible to
design floor response spectrum. The liquid slosh height and base shear have been found. Since the
liquid first mode frequency is very less than the tank wall frequency the interaction effects is found
less. Wavelet analysis is performed to find the slosh frequencies with respect to time.

References
Sinha RK, Kakodkar, 2006, Design and Development of the AHWR- the Indian thorium fuelled
innovative nuclear reactor, Nuclear Engineering and Design, 236, 683-700.
Eswaran, M., Saha, U.K., Maity, D, 2009, Effect of baffles on a partially filled cubic tank:
Numerical simulation and experimental validation, Computers & Structures, 87(3-4), pp. 198-205.
Eswaran M, P Goyal, GR Reddy, RK Singh and KK Vaze, (2013), Fluidstructure interaction
analysis of sloshing in an annular - sectored water pool subject to surge motion', International
Journal of Ocean Systems Engineering, Vol.: 3(3), pp. 1-21.
Ibrahim RA, (2005), Liquid Sloshing Dynamics: Theory & Applications, Cambridge University
Press, New York.
Chang, Y.W., Gvildys, J., Ma, D.C., Singer, R., Rodwell, E. and Sakurai, A. (1989), Numerical
simulation of seismic sloshing of LMR reactors, Nuclear Engineering Design, 113(3), 435-454.
Haroun, M.A. and Housner, G.W. (1981), Seismic design of liquid storage tanks, J. Tech.
Council - ASCE, 107(1), 191-207.
Tedesco, J.W., Landis, D.W. and Kostem, C.N. (1989), Seismic Analysis of cylindrical liquid
storage tanks, Computers & Structures, 32(5), 1165-1174.

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