LIQUID DAMPING IN A CONCENTRIC MEMBRANE TANK

Keiji Komatsu, Professor, JAXA/Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Sagamihara, 229-8510, Japan Miki Nishimoto, Research Engineer, JAXA/Institute of Aerospace Technology, 2-1-1 Sengen,Tukuba, 305-8505, Japan
ABSTRACT We investigated the dynamic characteristics of the lateral and longitudinal (axi-symmetric) sloshing of liquid in a concentric membrane tank. We conducted an experiment using a circular cylindrical tank having a rigid outer wall and a flexible inner wall. The three materials used for the inner walls were, rigid acrylic, Kapton film, and polyethylene foam sheeting. We found that in the membrane wall, the outer part resonant phenomenon was difficult to clearly discern, because of the heavy motion coupling of the inner and outer liquids through the flexible membrane wall. Consequently the apparent damping ratio was increased with decreasing rigidity of the membrane wall. 1. INTRODUCTION Sloshing describes the free-surface oscillations of a liquid in a partially filled tank, which result from lateral and longitudinal displacement or the angular motions of the vehicle. Our design configuration of a concentric-membrane tank (Fig.1) should reduce the structural weight of a launch vehicle[1]. Due to the geometric arrangement and flexibility of the inner tank, the attitude control and propulsion system stability margins may change in comparison with the conventional tandem tank configuration[2]. In the interaction between a liquid and a flexible membrane, we expect that the apparent damping in the system increases in the same manner as the flexible baffle in conventional tanks. This paper investigates the dynamic characteristics of liquid sloshing in a concentric tank. 2. MEASUREMENT SET-UP 2.1 Model Tank The experiment tank was short cylindrical, with a rigid outer wall of 2R1=33.4-cm diameter and an inner wall of 2R2=23.4-cm diameter(Figs.2-3 and Table 1). 2.2 Test Setup In the experiment, we placed the tank on a base-excitation table (Figs.3-6). A mounted accelerometer monitored the base excitation frequency and its amplitude. A level meter and pressure gauge monitored the liquid motion.

R1 R2 R3

Flexible Inner Wall

Rigid Outer Tank

H0 R0 R1 R2 R3

H2

H1

H1

Fig.1 Concentric membrane tank concept.

Fig.2 Dimensions of the model tank.

We attached the electrical-resistance level meter vertically to the rigid outer wall for lateral excitation test, and to the inner wall for vertical excitation test. The pressure gauge was on the bottom of the tank. We used three materials for the inner wall; rigid acrylic, Kapton film (0.1mm thick, Fig.4), and polyethylene foam sheeting (1.8mm thick, Fig.6). Their elongation rigidity (Eh) ratio was : 1 : 0.003. Eh is one of the structural parameters that determines the shell motion excited by the pressure of the sloshing liquid.

item Inside diameter of the outer wall Thickness of the outer wall Inside diameter of the inner tank Outside diameter of the inner tank Thickness of the inner acrylic rigid tank Tank height Water level of the outer part Inner water level for inner acrylic rigid wall Inner water level for inner flexible wall Thickness of the bottom plate

dimension R1=16.7cm R0-R1=6mm R3=11.7cm R2=12.5cm R2-R3=8mm H0=18cm H1 H1 H2 H1-H2=1cm

Table 1 Dimensions of the model tank.

Level Gage Amplifier Accelerometer

Oscillator

Exciter Charge Amp.

Amplifier

Anti-Aliasing FilterA/D Converter Analysis

Fig.3 Diagram of response measurement for vertical excitation.

Oscillator Flexible wall

Fig.4 Tank on the vertical excitation table ( Kapton inner wall case) .

Level Gage Amplifier

Accelerometer

Pressure Gage

Exciter

Charge Amp.3

Charge Amp.4

Charge Amp.2

Anti-Aliasing Filter- converter

Analysis

Fig.5 Diagram of response measurement for lateral excitation.

Fig.6 Tank on the lateral excitation table (foamed sheeting membrane case).

3. ANALYSIS 3.1 Sloshing Frequency in a Rigid Tank The fundamental sloshing frequency f in a rigid tank with radius R and liquid level H is given [3] as

 nj H 1 njg (1) tanh R 2 R with 11 = 1.841 for lateral sloshing and 01 = 3.832 for axi-symmetric (longitudinal) sloshing. nj in equation (1) is f=

nj = R

(2)

where is obtained as a root of the equation (3) J ' n ( R ) = 0 for a cylindrical tank, and for a concentric cylindrical tank J' n (R 2 ) Y' n (R 1 ) J ' n (R 1 ) Y' n (R 2 ) = 0 (4)

mode j=1 j=2 method inner outer inner outer Exact 0 0 2.85 4.00 BEM 2.87 4.14 N=1 Exact 1.98 1.32 3.36 4.01 BEM 2.02 1.36 3.41 4.16 n=2 Exact 2.56 1.87 3.77 4.05 BEM 2.61 1.95 3.82 4.20 Table 2 The accuracy of the eigen frequency for the liquid elementH/R=0.6.

f (Hz) n n=0

where R1 is the outer diameter and R2 is the inner diameter. J ( x ) d J ( x ) / dx . J n and Y n are the Bessel functions of order n of first and second kind. n is a circumferential wave number and j is the mode number. 3.2 Coupled Oscillation Modeling We applied a coupling method [4] for numerical calculation. This method uses finite elements for a tank and boundary elements for the liquid inside. In modeling, the geometry must be axi-symmetric, but the motion may be non-symmetric because the circumferential direction motions of the elements are represented by a trigonometric function. 3.3 Boundary Element Mesh Figure 7 illustrates tank-liquid meshing, where the lower part of the tank was filled with a liquid. The liquid level was the same height in the inner part and the outer part. To estimate the accuracy of the meshed model, we calculated the eigen frequencies for the rigid wall case and compared them with exact theoretical results (by eqs (1)-(4)) in Table 2. To maintain accuracy, we applied fine mesh around the free surface.

75 24

74 23

Rigid Wall

73

22

72

21

71 20

Membrane Shell

70

19

69 18

68 17 52 50 48 4 6 44 42 53 67 66 65 6 4 63 62 61 60 59 58 57 56 55 54 16 51 49 47 45 43 15 14 13 12 11 41 40 39 38 37 36

Free Surface

10 35 9 34 8

Liquid

Liquid

33

32 6 31 5 30

4. TESTING PROCEDURE 4.1 Lateral Excitation We used the following procedures to derive the modal parameters. (1) The base was driven slowly to excite the C.L. first sloshing mode. (2) We recorded the free decay time series Fig.7 Liquid-tank system element meshing (Fig. 8(a), the material of the inner wall in Fig.8 was Kapton film). In this stage, the free decay data had several component modes. We transformed the time series into a frequency spectrum (FRF, Frequency Response Function), and then identified the resonant frequency (Fig.8 (b)), which was almost identical to the eigen frequency. (3) The base was driven at the frequency identified by procedure (2). (4) At the resonant excitation, we suddenly stopped the driving force and again, recorded the free decay data. We only had data for the first sloshing mode. (5) By counting the wave numbers and the time intervals of the free decay data, we determined the first sloshing frequency. (Fig 8(c)) (6) Damping ratio was determined by the logarithmic decay ratio , calculated by the free-decay data (Figs.8(c) and (d)) as
4 29 3 28 2 27 1 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

, =

a 1 log N + n N an

where a n was the n-th amplitude peak of the free decay. The water level is set at 5, 7.5, and 10cm, corresponded to H/R1 0.3, 0.45, 0.6, and H/R2 0.43, 0.64, 0.85.

2 acc 0 -2 P/A 0 5 10 15 20 time 2 pres 0 -2 0 5 10 15 20 time height H/A 0.5 0 -0.5 0 5 10 15 20 time 25 30 35 40 45 25 30 35 40 45 25 30 35 40 45

100 80 60 40 20 0 0 1 2 Hz 150 100 50 0 3 4 5

2 Hz

Fig.8(a) Impulse response for rigid wall. Fig.8(b) FRFs for Fig.9(b). Inner part is measured by a pressure gage, outer part by a wave gage.
0.2 acc 0 -0.2 35 1 pres 0 -1 35 0.5 0 -0.5 35 40 45 50 55 time 60 65 70 75 80 height height 40 45 50 55 time 0.01 0 -0.01 10 15 20 25 time 30 35 40 60 65 70 75 80 pres 40 45 50 55 time 0.5 0 -0.5 10 15 20 25 time 30 35 40 60 65 70 75 80 acc 0.1 0 -0.1 10 15 20 25 time 30 35 40

Fig.8(c) Free decay record after the resonance of the outer part.

Fig.8(d) Free decay record after the resonance of the inner part.

Figure 9 presents the data for the foam wall. In the frequency spectrum (Fig.9(b)) we could not find a distinct resonant frequency for the outer part. The inner and outer parts interacted closely through the flexible wall, and in the inner and outer parts, resonant phenomena were hardly excited. Figure 10 depicts the vibration mode of the membrane wall. Its circumferential wave number was n=6. In linear theory, the excitation is a lateral sloshing mode, therefore the n=1 mode must be observed. In reality, however, the inner wall resonated with the sloshing frequency of the n=6 breathing vibration mode, whose frequency approximately equaled the sloshing frequency. We observed that in the membrane wall, the outer resonant phenomena was difficult to clearly discern, because of the heavy motion coupling of the inner and outer liquids through the flexible membrane wall.
0.5 acc 0 -0.5 P/A 0 5 10 15 time 20 25 30 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 1 2 Hz 0 5 10 15 time 20 25 30 30 20 H/A 10 0 5 10 15 time 20 25 30 0 3 4 5

1 pres height 0 -1

0.2 0 -0.2

2 Hz

Fig.9(a)

Impulse response for foam wall. Fig.9(b) FRFs for Fig.10(b). Inner part is measured by a pressure gage, outer part by a level gage.

0.1 acc 0 -0.1 30 35 40 time 0.2 pres 0 -0.2 30 0.1 height 0 -0.1 30 35 40 time 45 50 55 height 35 40 time 45 50 55 pres 45 50 55 acc

0.1 0 -0.1 30 0.5 0 -0.5 30 0.06 0.04 0.02 0 30 35 40 45 time 50 55 60 35 40 45 time 50 55 60 35 40 45 time 50 55 60

Fig.9(c) Free decay record after the resonance of the outer part.

Fig.9(d) Free decay record after the resonance of the inner part.

4.2 Vertical Excitation For the vertical excitation, the wave motion frequency is exactly one-half that of the excitation. This type of motion is known as one-half sub-harmonic response[5]. In the test procedure stated in 4.1, Steps (1)-(3) were excluded, because we had no way to give the tank axi-symmetric impulse. Figure 11 present the excitation acceleration and the liquid level response. As can be seen, the frequency of the liquid motion is exactly one-half of that of the base acceleration. Kapton 3109 kg/ms2 0.1mm 1410kg/m3, (1.42) 3105 Foam 5.83105 kg/ms2 1.8mm 27.1kg/m3, (0.027) 10.5102

Youngs modulus, E Thickness,h Density,

Elongation rigidity, Eh Bending 310-3 3.410-3 3 rigidity Eh Table 3 Elastic modulus of the membrane sheets Fig.10 Breathing vibration mode (n=6) for the flexible wall

1.5 1 e d u t i n g a M 0.5 0 -0.5 -1 -1.5 0 2 4

Input acceleration

200 150 e d u t i n g a M 100 50 0

Input acceleration

0.15 0.1 e d u t i n g a M 0.05 0 -0.05 -0.1 0 2 4

6 8 Time (sec) Free surface response

10

12

30 25 e d u t i n g a M 20 15 10 5

6 8 Frequency (Hz) Free surface response

10

12

14

6 Time (sec)

10

12

6 8 Frequency (Hz)

10

12

14

Foam sheet : H=5.0cm (Upper: Input acceleration, Lower: Free surface motion) Fig.11(a) One-half sub-harmonic liquid motion response under vertical excitation. Fig.11(b) Input and Output Frequency Spectra

5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 5.1 Damping Characteristics (Lateral Sloshing) Figures 12 and 13 present the measured equivalent damping ratios. We determined them by the logarithmic decay method. In these figures, (a) represents the low amplitude case, and (b) represents the high amplitude case. In Fig. 12, we calculated the damping ratio using the free-decay records of the level meter attached to the wall of the outer tank. In Fig. 13, we calculated the damping ratio using the record of the pressure gauge placed at the bottom of the inner tank. The definition of high amplitude is that the wave height is not so high that it will prevent the water particles from separating from the free surface. We used ten waves to calculate the damping ratio. The definition of low amplitude is that the wave height is not so sufficient to maintain a precise signal to noise ratio. The rigidity of the membranes are estimated in Table 3.
6 5

Damping ratio (%)

Damping ratio (%)

4 3 2 1 0

rigid Kapton foam

6 5 4 3 2 1 0 5cm

rigid kapton foam

5cm

7.5cm

10cm Level

7.5cm

10cm Level

(a) Small amplitude excitation. (b) Large amplitude excitation. Fig.12 Damping ratios for the outer part [Lateral sloshing]
6
6 Damping ratio (%) 5 4 3 2 1 0 5cm 7.5cm 10cm Level

Damping ratio (%)

rigid Kapton foam

5 4 3 2 1 0

rigid kapton foam

5cm

7.5cm

10cm

Level

(a) Small amplitude excitation. (b) Large amplitude excitation Fig.13 Damping ratios for the inner part [ Lateral sloshing]
3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 5cm 7.5cm Level 10cm

Damping ratio(%)

Damping ratio(%)

rigid Kapton form

2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 5cm

rigid Kapton form

7.5cm Level

10cm

(a) Small amplitude excitation. (b) Large amplitude excitation Fig.14 Damping ratios for the inner part. [Axi-symmetric sloshing] As can be seen in the figures, the damping ratio increased with decreasing membrane wall rigidity.

5.2 Damping Characteristics (Axi-symmetric Sloshing) Figure 14 presents the measured equivalent damping ratios for vertical excitation by using the wave height records. The resonant axi-symmetric mode was observed clearly for the inner part, however, the outer part resonant mode was not always axi-symmetric, but non-symmetric mode (n was 4-10, depending on the excitation frequency, shown in Fig.17.). 5.3 Comparing Measured and Calculated Frequencies Section 3.2 of this paper explains the combined methods used to calculate eigen frequencies and eigen modes. For the input data of the foam, we measured the bending deflection caused by its own weight and we applied a tensile test to the specimen (Table 3). Liquid level H/R1=0.3(5cm) H/R1=0.45(7.5cm) H/R1=0.6(10cm) Rigidity Outer Inner Outer Inner Outer Inner Eh Rigid Experiment 0.78 1.64 0.95 1.83 1.05 1.95 (R2=11.7cm) Exact 0.77 1.60 0.92 1.80 1.03 1.89 BEM 0.95 1.67 1.14 1.94 Kapton Experiment 3.0105kg/m2 0.78 1.50 0.94 1.76 1.04 1.90 (R2=12.5cm) FEM-BEM 0.95 1.67 1.14 1.93 Polyethylene Experiment 1.0102kg/m2 (0.74*) 1.45 (0.75*) 1.65 (0.88*) 1.65 Foam FEM-BEM 0.65 1.39 Table 4 Coupled eigen frequencies* resonance is not observed clearly [Lateral sloshing]. Wall
Lateral Excitation (H/R=0.3) 4.5 4 3.5 Frequency (Hz) 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 0 1 2 Rigidity of the wall 3 -log(E/E0) 4 5

Outer 1st Inner 1st Inner 2nd Outer 2nd

Exp.(Kapton)

Exp.(Foam)

Fig. 15

Calculated lateral sloshing frequencies as a function of membrane rigidity.

Tables 4 and 5 compare measured and calculated frequencies. Figures 15 and 16 illustrate the relationship between the Youngs modulus and the eigen frequencies of the system. Calculated eigen modes are shown in Figs. 18 and 19 (corresponding to Fig.7). As seen in the figures and tables, reducing the inner wall rigidity does not significantly decrease the resonant frequency. The important characteristic of the flexible tank is that the lowest resonant frequency can be calculated, however, its resonant phenomena is hardly observed obviously. The high damping ratio is a result of this phenomenon, which can only be observed by the experiment. Liquid level H/R1=0.3(5cm) H/R1=0.45(7.5cm H/R1=0.6(10cm) Wall ) Rigidity Inner Inner Inner Eh Rigid Experiment 2.72 2.82 2.88 (R2=11.7cm) Exact 2.75 2.83 2.85 2.75 2.86 BEM Kapton Experiment 3.0105kg/m2 2.60 2.80 2.85 (R2=12.5cm) FEM-BEM 2.74 Polyethylene Experiment 1.0102kg/m2 2.65 2.80 2.86 Foam FEM-BEM 2.71 Table 5 Coupled eigen frequencies* resonance is not observed clearly[Axi-symmetric sloshing]

Vertical Excitation (H/R=0.3) 4.5 4 3.5 Frequency (Hz) 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 0
Fig. 16

Exp.(Kapton)

Exp.(Foam)
Inner 1st Inner 2nd Outer 1st

2 3 Rigidity of the wall -log(E/E0)

Calculated axisymmetric sloshing frequencies as a function of membrane rigidity

Center line of the tank

Membrane deformation Free surface motion

Fig.17 Response of the outer part under vertical excitation.

Fig.18 Calculated first lateral sloshing mode (H/R=0.3, inner wall : -log(E/E0)=3.4)

Fig.19 Calculated first and second axi-symmetric sloshing modes (H/R=0.3, inner wall : -log(E/E0)=3.4) 6. CONCLUSIONS We found that when the inner wall was flexible, the amplitude of the resonant frequency was low. It was difficult to find this resonant phenomenon and the damping ratio increased with decreasing membrane wall rigidity. References [1] Komatsu,K.,Sano,M.,Kimura,J., and Ohyagi,T. : Concept Study of Membrane Tanks for Launch Vehicle, AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC, 41st Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Material Conf., Atlanta, 2000, Apr.5,. [2] Nikolayev,O. and Komatsu,K. : Propulsion System Instability for Concentric Tank-Type Launch Vehicle, AIAA J. of Propulsion and Power, Vol.20, No.2, pp.376-378,2003. [3] Bauer,H.F. : Fluid Oscillations in the Containers of a Space Vehicle and Their Influence upon Stability, NASA Technical Report, NASA TR R-187,1964. [4] Komatsu,K. and Matsushima,M. : Some Experiments on the Vibration of Hemispherical Shells Partially Filled with a Liquid, J. of Sound & Vibration, pp.35-44 ,64-1 ,1979. [5] Dodge,F.T. : Vertical Excitation of Propellant Tanks, Chapter 8 in The Dynamic Behavior of Liquid in Moving Containers, NASA SP-106,1966.