A Design Guideline for Random Excitation Forces Due to Two-Phase Cross Flow in Tube Bundles

Abstract

This paper re-examines the available experimental data to investigate the random excitation forces that affect tube bundles exposed to two-phase cross flow. Much of the experimental data generated over the past four decades have been gathered in an attempt to understand the parametric dependence of the random two-phase forces. The data include air–water, steam–water and various Freons used in a variety of test sections with either strain gages to measure the tube amplitude or force transducers to measure the reaction forces. A review of previous work in this area finds that some authors claim a strong flow regime dependence while others suggest that this dependence is weak. This work takes a detailed look at this discrepancy and finds that a single design guideline does not adequately bound all flow regimes. As a result, two dimensionless upper bounds are proposed.