Influence of Fuel Sloshing on Stress Response of Fuselage Structure

WANG Yaowei; LI Qi; FANG Chen; YANG Ying

doi:10.7643/issn.1672-9242.2026.09.012

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Equipment Environmental Engineering ›› 2026, Vol. 23 ›› Issue (9) : 108-114. DOI: 10.7643/issn.1672-9242.2026.09.012

Special Topic—Structural Dynamics of Aviation Equipment

Influence of Fuel Sloshing on Stress Response of Fuselage Structure

WANG Yaowei, LI Qi, FANG Chen, YANG Ying^*

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Abstract

The work aims to investigate the effects of fuel sloshing characteristics under different liquid filling ratios on the stress-strain distribution of aircraft fuselage structures. A coupled STAR-CCM+ and ABAQUS simulation approach was employed to develop a fuel sloshing model based on the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method. A one-way fluid-structure coupling analysis was conducted to simulate the fuel tank behavior under pitch overload conditions, and stress-strain responses between tank and non-tank regions were compared. Stress-strain distribution exhibited distinct regional characteristics. The tank region, as the primary load-bearing area, showed significantly higher stress levels, with a maximum vonMises stress of 154.9 MPa. Non-tank regions displayed relatively lower stress concentrations (about 48.4% of the tank region's maximum). Maximum tensile strain in the tank region reached 725.5με, while non-tank regions measured 81.1% of the tank region's strain. Fluid domain analysis confirms that tank wall pressure is predominantly governed by overload conditions and fuel surface height. After the tank wall pressure is transmitted to the solid domain model, the response characteristics of the non-tank region reveal the transmission law of the load in the aircraft structure. Under pitch maneuver conditions, attention should be paid to the stress and strain in the non-tank region caused by the fuel tank sloshing.

Key words

fuel tank / sloshing impact / overload / fluid structure coupling / stress and strain / liquid filling ratio

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WANG Yaowei, LI Qi, FANG Chen, YANG Ying. Influence of Fuel Sloshing on Stress Response of Fuselage Structure[J]. Equipment Environmental Engineering. 2026, 23(9): 108-114 https://doi.org/10.7643/issn.1672-9242.2026.09.012

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