An Experimental Study on the Influence of Structural Damping on Internal Fluid Pressure During a Transient Flow

Abstract

The traditional approach to designing a piping system subject to internal dynamic pressure is to restrain the piping as much as possible, and the approximation made in the analysis is to assume no contribution of structural energy dissipation. To determine the validity of this concept and approximation, an experimental study of a piping system was performed to measure the influence of structural damping. A pipe system was designed with a loop that could be turned so that its natural frequency would match that of the contained liquid. It was discovered that a properly sized damper on the piping loop greatly accelerates the decay of the fluid pressure transient. The damper absorbs some energy from the piping, reducing the resulting rebound fluid pressure. When the loop is subjected to forced steady-state vibration, there is a fluid pressure response. The amplitude of that pressure can be reduced by installing an external damper: the stiffer the damper the more effective it is in reducing dynamic pressure.