Flow-induced tube vibration thresholds in heat exchangers from shellside water tests

Conference · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:6317505

Halle, H; Chenoweth, J M; Wambsganss, M W

Typical industrial shell-and-tube heat exchanger configurations are investigated experimentally for the occurrence of potentially damaging tube vibration as a function of flowrate. The effort is part of a program to develop vibration avoidance criteria to be integrated and optimized with the advanced thermal, hydraulic, and mechanical design methods now available. The tests use a 0.6-m (2-ft)-diameter, 3.7-m (12-ft)-long shell containing a removable tube bundle whose components are readily rearranged or replaced. The 15 different full tube bundle configurations tested represent various combinations of parameters: triangular or square tube layout patterns with different orientations to the flow, number of crosspasses, sizes of nozzles, plain or finned tubes. All bundles have 19-mm (0.75-in.)-diameter tubes spaced with a pitch-to-diameter ratio of 1.25. The heat exchanger is tested with waterflow on the shellside to determine a critical threshold, above which a small increase in the flowrate initiates a fluidelastic instability resulting in large amplitude vibration. The test conditions, the critical flowrates, the vibration frequencies, and the locations of the tubes most susceptible to vibration are presented. The given data are used for a comparison with a presently recognized method of vibration prediction and will permit updated evaluations as more advanced methods become available in the future.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (USA); Heat Transfer Research, Inc., Alhambra, CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 6317505
• Report Number(s): CONF-841201-4; ON: DE84006603
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420400* -- Engineering-- Heat Transfer & Fluid Flow
COMPUTER CODES
CONTROL
ENERGY TRANSFER
FLOW MODELS
FLOW RATE
FLUID FLOW
HEAT EXCHANGERS
HEAT TRANSFER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS
PERFORMANCE
TEMPERATURE CONTROL
TESTING
TUBES