This paper present preliminary analysis of impact pressure near or on a top swash bulkhead measured in a series of experiments. In these experiments, a rectangle tank with two top bulkheads is subjected to horizontally forced harmonic motions and pressure at several points is recorded. The parameters of excitation motions, depths of water and the location of top bulkheads change in different cases. Statistical analyses on the pressure results are discussed in the paper and presented in the conference.
In many designs, swash bulkheads are fitted on the ceiling of liquid tanks in FPSOs, LNGs or oil tankers for the purpose of reducing structural damages caused by sloshing wave motions inside tanks. Although full swash bulkheads spanning the whole height of tanks are often used, swash bulkheads spanning only a part of tank height downwards from deck are also found in many applications. A large number of studies have been carried out to investigate the sloshing in tanks with various baffles. Cho and Lee (2004) used finite element method for simulation of large amplitude liquid sloshing in two-dimensional baffled tank subject to horizontal forced excitation. Akyildiz and Unal (2005) conducted a series of experiments on pressure variations in both baffled and un-baffled rectangular tanks. Experimental investigations on effects of tank sizes, flexibility of tank bottom wall and effects of frequency were analyzed to find out characteristics of the liquid sloshing, as described by Stofan and Sumner (1963); Chiba (1992) and so on. In Panigrahy et al (2009), a series of experiments were carried out in a liquid sloshing tank to estimate the pressure developed on the tank walls. However, investigation focusing on the impact pressure on swash bulkheads on the ceiling of a tank is relatively rare. This paper will present some results about this obtained by experiments.
