Curvature-corrected sloshing spectra for cylindrical tanks in microgravity

Fuente: arXiv
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Autore principale: Cassoni, Gianni
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Cassoni, Gianni
author_facet Cassoni, Gianni
contents In microgravity, a partially filled cylindrical tank is generally bounded by a curved equilibrium meniscus rather than by an almost flat free surface. This modifies both the bulk liquid inertia and the capillary restoring force, so flat-interface sloshing frequencies can become inaccurate even in the linear regime. This effect matters once the Bond number is of order unity or smaller, precisely the regime relevant to capillarity-dominated propellant management. This study revisits the classical cylindrical curved-meniscus eigenvalue problem for capillary-gravity sloshing about axisymmetric Young-Laplace equilibria. A semi-analytical boundary-operator formulation is derived that preserves the cylindrical Bessel structure and recovers the flat-interface limit exactly. Its main advantage lies in treating the bulk Dirichlet-Neumann operator and the linearised curvature operator as distinct components, thereby making the physical origin of curvature-induced frequency shifts explicit. The results show that equilibrium curvature couples radial modes and alters the low-order spectrum once $Bo \lesssim 1$. Concave menisci lower the fundamental frequency, whereas convex menisci raise it while often lowering higher branches. The asymmetry between wetting and non-wetting configurations is found to be predominantly kinetic, being carried mainly by the Dirichlet-Neumann operator rather than by the capillary term. Curved menisci should therefore be treated as part of the leading-order model of cylindrical microgravity sloshing, not as a secondary correction, if reduced-order predictions are to capture the relevant dynamical scales for spacecraft applications.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_00168
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Curvature-corrected sloshing spectra for cylindrical tanks in microgravity
Cassoni, Gianni
Fluid Dynamics
76B45 (Primary), 76M22, 76E17 (Secondary)
In microgravity, a partially filled cylindrical tank is generally bounded by a curved equilibrium meniscus rather than by an almost flat free surface. This modifies both the bulk liquid inertia and the capillary restoring force, so flat-interface sloshing frequencies can become inaccurate even in the linear regime. This effect matters once the Bond number is of order unity or smaller, precisely the regime relevant to capillarity-dominated propellant management. This study revisits the classical cylindrical curved-meniscus eigenvalue problem for capillary-gravity sloshing about axisymmetric Young-Laplace equilibria. A semi-analytical boundary-operator formulation is derived that preserves the cylindrical Bessel structure and recovers the flat-interface limit exactly. Its main advantage lies in treating the bulk Dirichlet-Neumann operator and the linearised curvature operator as distinct components, thereby making the physical origin of curvature-induced frequency shifts explicit. The results show that equilibrium curvature couples radial modes and alters the low-order spectrum once $Bo \lesssim 1$. Concave menisci lower the fundamental frequency, whereas convex menisci raise it while often lowering higher branches. The asymmetry between wetting and non-wetting configurations is found to be predominantly kinetic, being carried mainly by the Dirichlet-Neumann operator rather than by the capillary term. Curved menisci should therefore be treated as part of the leading-order model of cylindrical microgravity sloshing, not as a secondary correction, if reduced-order predictions are to capture the relevant dynamical scales for spacecraft applications.
title Curvature-corrected sloshing spectra for cylindrical tanks in microgravity
topic Fluid Dynamics
76B45 (Primary), 76M22, 76E17 (Secondary)
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.00168