A Co-Simulation Approach for the 3D Dynamic Simulation of Vehicles Considering Sloshing in Cargo and Fuel Tanks

The sloshing of liquids in cargo and fuel tanks mounted on vehicles can have a significant influence on the vehicle's driving dynamics and stability. To evaluate and optimize the quality of tank designs, we propose a co-simulation approach that consists of a coupled multibody system simulation for the vehicle and a Discrete Element Method and Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics simulation for the sloshing cargo. This approach is beneficial especially for the simulation of fluid cargos, as Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics does not require additional models to track and reconstruct free fluid surfaces. By means of dynamic 3D simulations of a double lane change maneuvers we compare the two different cargo models and demonstrate the viability of the co-simulation approach. (© 2009 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)