VOL. 9, NO. 3, MARCH 2014 ISSN 1819-6608 ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences © 2006-2014 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN). All rights reserved. www.arpnjournals.com 244 DESIGN OF FUEL TANK BAFFLES TO REDUCE KINETIC ENERGY PRODUCED BY FUEL SLOSHING AND TO ENHANCE THE PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE R. Thundil Karuppa Raj, T. Bageerathan and G. Edison School of Mechanical and Building Sciences, VIT University, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India E-Mail: thundil.rajagopal@vit.ac.in ABSTRACT Fuel sloshing occurs in vehicle when it accelerates or decelerates. It generates high kinetic energy with unpleasant noise. This fuel sloshing leads to vehicle imbalance. This vehicle instability may occur when the fuel to weight ratio is high. In automobiles, the fuel sloshing generates unpleasant noise which is not expected from the present ones. So, this work presents the use of baffles at different positions in the fuel tank to suppress the fuel sloshing. Generally this phenomenon is seen in High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) tanks which are strong and light in weight. Introduction of baffles in the HDPE tanks is an onerous process through blow moulding. So the present work mainly focuses on the simulation of the slosh experiments to analyse the baffle design. The result depends upon the number of baffles, location of the baffle and its shape. The highest noise is generated only when the fuel hits the top of the tank. The baffle is designed in such a way that these noises are reduced. The height of the baffle should be sufficient enough to reduce the flow of fuel. The work mainly focuses over the selection of appropriate height of the baffle which gives optimum result with less effect on the fuel capacity of the tank. For this work, the fuel tank is modelled with Solidworks 2011. The fuel tank is meshed in ICEM CFD. It is solved in Ansys CFX 12.0. The Turbulent kinetic energy, force and velocity produced by the fuel during sloshing are calculated. The kinetic energy produced by the fuel produces the stress at the ends when reaching the ends of the tank. So the use of baffle reduced the noise and as well as the stress created at the ends. The product life cycle of the tank is also improved. Keywords: fuel tank, baffle, product life cycle, CFD, sloshing. INTRODUCTION In the recent years the perseverance for quality in vehicle has become important. Braking and acceleration is a basic phenomenon in automobiles. Due to this, the vehicle tends to have inertia effects. This phenomenon generates sloshing in the fuel tank which generates unpleasant noise in the vehicle. This has increased the perseverance over the search for quiet automobile. Generally the fluid in the fuel tank is diesel or gasoline. So the noise generated by the fluid bothers the occupants. Some control measures has to be made in order to decrease the turbulent kinetic energy and the noise generated by them. The flow of the fuel has to be changed in the fuel tank in order to have these reduced. So, baffles are used to have a control over the flow of the fuel. In steel fuel tanks, full height baffles are used. But now-a-days High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) have attracted the automotive manufacturers due to its light in weight and durable property. So the entire manufacturing process is constraint. The tanks are manufactured by blow moulding process. The extent of building baffles in HDPE is difficult as compared to the steel tanks. So the design of baffles plays a key role in reducing the slosh and as well as the ease for manufacturing. The full height baffles is difficult to build in the HDPE fuel tanks. So the design must be fulfilling the needs of the manufacturer and the customer. The main purpose of this work is to design different baffle design and analyze to conclude the ideal solution. We have considered a fuel tank model and performed tests with different baffle design. So the computer simulations will be used to validate the design. LITERATURE REVIEW Kouji Kamiya and Yoshihisa Yamaguchi [1] made fuel sloshing simulation experiments similar to the experimental results and reduced the development period. Hoi Sum IU et al., [2] worked on simulation and practical experiments of a fuel tank to relate the results of the both to conclude an optimum result. Won-Joo Roh et al., [3] analyzed the characteristics of impact pressure on the tank wall to find noise source on the wall which is influenced by both the inertia of fuel mass and the dynamic motion of sloshing flow. Also, a parametric study has been done to decrease impact pressure by changing its dimensions and shape. Manuel J. Fabela-Gallegos et al., [4] conducted an experimental study on the effects of fill level and number of baffles on the sloshing using an instrumented scaled experimental tank of elliptical transversal section with water as liquid cargo. Korang Modaressi-Tehrani et al., [5] studied the role of transverse baffles on Transient Three- Dimensional Liquid Slosh in a Partly-Filled Circular Tank which in reducing not only the magnitudes of longitudinal slosh force but also the lateral load shift and slosh force, roll, pitch and yaw moments. Masashi Kamei et al., [6] confirm the correlation of the sloshing noise performance and the main factors related to the sloshing noise. This was done to shorten the development time for a fuel tank. G. R. Yan et al., [7] validated the fuel tank model by demonstrating the experimental data acquired with a scale model tank.