Abstract: The liquid sloshing problem in the microgravity is studied in this paper. The conclusions of this research are suitable for spacecraft docking, capture and other mission conditions in the field of space attack defense. In this paper, the method of CFD numerical experiment is used to study the sloshing characteristics of liquid in a microgravity environment. The experimental results show that the liquid swaying can be divided into four stages, and the liquid flow law in each stage differs greatly, among which, the response of the liquid filled system in the initial time period of stage 1 is proportional to the excitation. Using this law, the equivalent inertia model of the liquid filled system under small pulse excitation is proposed, and numerical experiments are designed to verify its correctness, with model error of 3.2%, respectively. In addition, the applicability of the equivalent inertia model is also investigated and the optimal range of application of the model is derived in this paper.

Key words: liquid sloshing, CFD, small pulse excitation, equivalent inertia model, space attack defense