Computational fluid dynamics simulation for tuned liquid column dampers in horizontal motion

A Computational Fluid Dynamics model is presented in this study for the simulation of the complex fluid flows with free surfaces inside the Tuned Liquid Column Dampers in horizontal motion. The characteristics of the fluid model of the TLCD in horizontal motion include the free surface of the multiphase flow and the horizontal moving frame. In this study, the time depend unsteady Standard ${\kappa}-{\varepsilon}$ turbulent model based on Navier-Stokes equations is chosen. The volume of fluid (VOF) method and sliding mesh technique are adopted to track the free surface of water inside the vertical columns of TLCD and treat the moving boundary of the walls of TLCD in horizontal motion. Several model solution parameters comprising different time steps, mesh sizes, convergence criteria and discretization schemes are examined to establish model parametric independency results. The simulation results are compared with the experimental data in the dimensionless amplitude of the water column in four different configured groups of TLCDs with four different orifice areas. The predicted natural frequencies and the head loss coefficient of TLCDs from CFD model are also compared with the experimental data. The predicted numerical results agree well with the available experimental data.