Numerical Estimation of Fluidelastic Instability in Tube Arrays

Abstract

This study investigates unsteady flow in tube bundles and fluid forces, which can lead to large tube vibration amplitudes, in particular, amplitudes associated with fluidelastic instability (FEI). The fluidelastic forces are approximated by the coupling of the unsteady flow model (UFM) with computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The CFD model employed solves the Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations for unsteady turbulent flow and is cast in an arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian form to handle any motion associated with tubes. The CFD solution provides time domain forces that are used to calculate added damping and stiffness coefficients employed with the UFM. The investigation demonstrates that the UFM utilized in conjunction with CFD is a viable approach for calculating the stability map for a given tube array. The FEI was predicted for in-line square and normal triangle tube arrays over a mass damping parameter range of 0.1– 100. The effect of the P/d ratio and the Reynolds number on the FEI threshold was also investigated.