Low-Gravity Sloshing in an Axisymmetrical Container Excited in the Axial Direction

The response of low-gravity propellant sloshing is analyzed for the case where an axisymmetrical container is exposed to axial excitation. Spherical coordinates are used to analytically derive the characteristic functions for an arbitrary axisymmetrical convex container, for which time-consuming and expensive numerical methods have been used in the past. Numerical results show that neglecting the surface tension results in the underestimation of the magnitude of the liquid surface oscillation. The reason for this is explained by the influences of the Bond number and the liquid filling level on the critical value of the coefficient of the excitation term in the modal equation, above which the oscillation is destabilized, and on the characteristic root of the destabilized system. [S0021-8936(00)01502-6]