Ricerc@Sapienza

The understanding of sloshing dynamics has gained specific interest from aircraft manufacturers in their attempt to reduce design loads of flexible wing structures carrying liquid (fuel). For it is essential the development of modeling capabilities that can describe the resulting wing loads from flying in atmospheric gusts, turbulence, and landing impacts. This objective could be achieved if a proper characterization of the damping properties of the fluid-structure system is carried out. From the experimental investigation point of view, the sloshing mechanism depends on how the dynamic energy is transferred and dissipated between the mechanical and the fluid systems. Several tests have been already carried out to estimate the damping properties of a fluid-structure system excited by harmonic loadings. However, such a periodic energy exchange between the systems is not accurately describing the damping mechanism occurring in a complex dynamic system as a flexible wing structure in real operating conditions. The objective of the research is the experimental identification of the damping properties of a wing-like structure carrying a tank filled with fluid simulating the sloshing behavior through the use of Operational Modal Analysis (OMA) experimental techniques and the direct measurement of the dynamic loading at the structure/tank interface for the estimate of the dissipating force. Results will serve the SLOshing Wing Dynamics (SLOWD) European funded project for the accuracy assessment. The experimental investigation will take advantage of the environmental testing facility available at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of the University of Rome "La Sapienza". The sensitivity of the damping estimates to the type, direction, and level of excitation as well as to the different filling levels will be studied.