The Flow-Structure Couplings of Fluidelastic Instability and the Effect of Frequency Detuning in Triangular Tube Bundles Subjected to a Two-Phase Flow

Abstract

For decades, fluidelastic instability (FEI) has been known to cause dramatic mechanical failures in tube bundles. Therefore, it has been extensively studied to mitigate its catastrophic consequences. Most of these studies were conducted in controlled experiments where significant simplifications to the geometry and flow conditions were utilized. One of these simplifications is the assumption that all tubes have the same dynamic characteristics. However, in steam generators with U-bend tube configuration, the natural frequencies of tubes are nonuniform due to manufacturing tolerances and tubes' curvature in the U-bend region. Thus, this investigation aims to understand the rule of frequency variation (detuning) on FEI in two-phase flow. This includes investigating the effect of detuning on transverse and streamwise FEI for air–water mixture flow. The role of FEI damping and stiffness couplings was investigated over the entire range of air void fraction, or equivalently, the mass-damping parameter. It was found that frequency detuning could elevate the stability threshold caused by either coupling at high air void fraction in the case of transverse FEI. Furthermore, the frequency detuning had a marginal effect on the stability threshold for water flow. It was observed that the mass-damping parameter has a critical impact on FEI under detuning conditions.