Library Subscription: Guest

ISSN Online: 2688-7231

ISBN Online: 978-1-56700-524-0

Proceedings of the 26thNational and 4th International ISHMT-ASTFE Heat and Mass Transfer Conference December 17-20, 2021, IIT Madras, Chennai-600036, Tamil Nadu, India
December, 17-20, 2021, IIT Madras, Chennai, India

Fuel Sloshing Studies in an Inverted Flight Compartment of a Typical Combat Aircraft

Get access (open in a dialog) DOI: 10.1615/IHMTC-2021.1890
pages 1253-1258

Abstract

Sloshing can be described as the motion of the fluid as it attempts to attain a state of equilibrium for an effective instantaneous acceleration (gravitational, translational, etc.) experienced by the fluid. Sloshing occurs in a partially filled containers that undergoes accelerated motion. The effect of sloshing is significant in partially filled combat aircraft fuel tanks during acceleration, deceleration and maneuvers such as inverted flight, accelerated roll, etc.,

The main problem experienced in typical combat aircraft is non availability of fuel near vicinity of main fuel pump. This is a serious concern for flight operations. To address this problem, a study has been undertaken to ascertain the flow and pressure characteristics in the inverted flight compartment of the combat aircraft's fuel tank at a given roll maneuvers with acceleration using commercial ANSYS Fluent software.

For the above studies, Navier-Stokes equations incorporating Volume of Fluid (VOF) technique is used to model two immiscible fluids by solving a single set of momentum equations and tracking the volume fraction of each of the fluids throughout the domain. The motion of the tank is simulated by providing a linear and angular velocities at every time step. From the analysis, fuel flow movement within the inverted flight compartment and pressure variation at the pump inlet are predicted. This will allow us to optimize the location of fuel system components installed in the fuel tank. In addition to above, fuel tank shape sensitivity study has been carried out by simulating fuel slosh in wedge and rectangular tanks of same fuel capacity.