Fluidelastic instability in a tube array subjected to two phase R-11 cross flow

Book · Fri Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:131692

Feenstra, P; Judd, R L; Weaver, D S ^[1]

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1. McMaster Univ., Hamilton, Ontario (Canada). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

Flow-induced vibrations are an important consideration in the design of modern tube and shell heat exchangers, especially steam generators for nuclear power plants. This paper reports an experimental investigation into flow induced vibration of a parallel triangular tube bundle in a clamped-free arrangement with a pitch to diameter ratio P/D = 1.44. The tube bundle was subject to cross flow of both single phase and two phase refrigerant R-11 and the results obtained were analyzed to determine the critical flow velocity for fluidelastic instability as well as to observe the nature of the two phase flow. The data of other researchers were compared with the results of the present study by means of dimensionless similitude parameters. The primary contribution of the study was the comparison of the use of single component two phase mixtures such as R-11 liquid and vapor with two component mixtures such as air-water on the response of dynamically scaled model tube arrays. Some of the results suggest a lower stability threshold associated with the R11 two phase mixtures than similar experiments conducted with air-water two phase mixtures. It appears that commonly ignored factors such as slip between phases and flow regime may have a significant effect on stability behavior.

• OSTI ID: 131692
• Report Number(s): CONF-950740--; ISBN 0-7918-1329-0
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
42 ENGINEERING
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CROSSFLOW SYSTEMS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
HEAT EXCHANGERS
MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
STEAM GENERATORS
TUBES
TWO-PHASE FLOW
VOID FRACTION