ORCID Number

0009-0004-2684-1841

Date of Award

Summer 2026

Access Type

Thesis - Open Access

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Department

Mechanical Engineering

Committee Chair

Arka Das

Committee Chair Email

dasa@erau.edu

First Committee Member

Sathya Gangadharan

First Committee Member Email

sathya@erau.edu

Second Committee Member

Patrick Currier

Second Committee Member Email

currierp@erau.edu

College Dean

James W. Gregory

Abstract

Liquid sloshing in partially filled propellant tanks can generate transient forces and moments that affect spacecraft and launch vehicle stability, guidance, and control. This research develops a one-way experimental-to-Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) integration framework to investigate free-surface slosh behavior under realistic excitation conditions.

The overarching goal of this thesis is to develop and evaluate a one-way experimental-motion-driven computational framework for predicting liquid slosh response in a partially filled cylindrical tank. Rather than relying on idealized sinusoidal inputs, this work uses experimentally measured actuator-feedback motion as the prescribed excitation for high-fidelity CFD. The central objective is to establish the experimental and numerical coupling methodology needed before future real-time Software-in-the-Loop, Hardware-in-the-Loop, or active slosh-control architectures can be developed.

An experimental slosh facility used a cylindrical acrylic tank mounted on an Aerotech brushless linear motor. Dynamic reactions were measured with three Futek LCM300 load cells, while actuator feedback from Aerotech Motion Composer and Soloist Digital Scope was processed and prescribed in ANSYS Fluent through User-Defined Functions and dynamic mesh motion. A transient Volume of Fluid model resolved free-surface deformation, pressure, velocity, and hydrodynamic force histories. Seven cases at 60% and 35% fill levels examined translational and combined translational-rotational excitation. Results show that fill level, excitation frequency, and motion type strongly affect response: higher fill levels produced larger inertia loads, lower fill levels showed greater nonlinear free-surface mobility, and CFD captured dominant frequency, phase, and transient trends, despite peak-force differences from damping, sensor noise, and numerical idealizations.

Overall, the developed framework successfully connects experimental measurements with high-fidelity CFD simulation and reduces dependence on idealized motion inputs. This work provides a foundation for future reduced-gravity, microgravity, spin-stabilized, and active slosh suppression studies.

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