An Investigation on the Use of Connors’ Equation to Predict Fluidelastic Instability in Cylinder Arrays

2001 ◽  
Vol 123 (4) ◽  
pp. 448-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart J. Price

The use of Connors’ equation, or variations thereof, to predict the velocity at which fluidelastic instability occurs in cylinder arrays subject to cross-flow has become ubiquitous. The implicit assumption being that this equation accurately models the physics of fluidelastic instability, and all that is required is to find the “correct” value of Connors’ constant. The evidence for and against this assumption is examined in this paper. Other theoretical models of fluidelastic instability are reviewed and compared with Connors’ analysis. In addition, evidence from experimental data is considered. It is concluded that there are many deficiencies associated with Connors’ equation, and that if better “design guides” are to be obtained, more emphasis must be put on examining the physics of fluidelastic instability.

1985 ◽  
Vol 107 (4) ◽  
pp. 500-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. P. Paidoussis ◽  
S. J. Price ◽  
D. Mavriplis

This paper presents a semianalytical model, involving the superposition of the empirically determined cross flow about a cylinder in an array and the analytically determined vibration-induced flow field in still fluid, for the purpose of analyzing the stability of cylinder arrays in cross flow and predicting the threshold of fluidelastic instability. The flow field is divided into two regions: a viscous bubble of separated flow, and an inviscid, sinuous duct-flow region elsewhere. The only empirical input required by the model in its simplest form is the pressure distribution about a cylinder in the array. The results obtained are in reasonably good accord with experimental data, only for low values of the mass-damping parameter (e.g., for liquid flows), where fluidelastic instability is predominantly caused by negative fluid-dynamic damping terms. For high mass-damping parameters (e.g., for gaseous flows), where fluidelastic instability is evidently controlled by fluid-dynamic stiffness terms, the model greatly overestimates the threshold of fluidelastic instability. However, once measured fluid-dynamic stiffness terms are included in the model, agreement with experimental data is much improved, yielding the threshold flow velocities for fluidelastic instability to within a factor of 2 or better.


2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomomichi Nakamura ◽  
Yoshiaki Fujita ◽  
Takuya Sumitani

The in-flow instability of cylinder arrays corresponds to the in-plane instability of U-bend tubes in steam generators. This rarely occurring phenomenon has recently been observed in a nuclear power plant in the U.S. For this reason, the importance of studying this instability has recently increased. The fluidelastic instability of a cylinder array caused by cross-flow was found to easily occur in air-flow and hardly in water-flow in our previous report. The present report introduces the results of this phenomenon in several patterns of triangular cylinder arrays in air-flow. The pitch spacing between cylinders is one of the parameters, which varies from P/D = 1.2 to 1.5, for a five-by-five cylinder array. The instability is examined both in the in-flow direction and in the transverse direction. The test cylinders are supported with thin plates to move in one direction. The number and the location of the flexibly supported cylinders are the other parameters. Differences between the instability in the in-flow and in the transverse direction are found. Among these differences the most important is the fact that the fluidelastic instability has not been observed for a single flexible cylinder in the in-flow direction, although it is observed in the transverse direction. However, the present preliminary results suggest that the in-flow instability may be estimated with the Connors' type formula as likely as in the transverse direction case.


Author(s):  
Salim El Bouzidi ◽  
Marwan Hassan ◽  
Lais L. Fernandes ◽  
Atef Mohany

Fluidelastic instability can have disastrous effects on the integrity of steam generators. Over the last five decades there has been a great deal of research done in an attempt to understand this phenomenon. These efforts have resulted in several theoretical models and design guidelines. The semi-analytical model of fluidelastic instability initially developed by Lever and Weaver is based on a single tube in a channel flow. The mechanism responsible for instability was found to be one of flow redistribution. While previous studies have been able to characterize the pressure and velocity within a tube bundle, the behaviour of the area of the channel has not yet been fully investigated. The current study aims to characterize the area of the channel surrounding the tube. Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) equations are cast in an Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) form and are used to compute the flow conditions in a rigid tube bundle due to a single flexible tube vibrating in the transverse direction. The properties of the velocity field are used to determine the channel boundaries. Properties of the channel area such as area perturbation, mean area, and area phase are investigated for various reduced flow velocities. Dynamic simulations are conducted to determine the impact on the stability threshold for transverse fluid force cases using a mass damping parameter range of 10–200.


Author(s):  
Marwan Hassan ◽  
David S. Weaver

The shut-down of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) has been attributed to damaging streamwise Fluidelastic Instability (FEI) of the steam generator tubes, a phenomenon which has traditionally been assumed not to occur. This has generated a significant research effort to better understand this phenomenon and to develop appropriate design criteria for its prevention. Most current design codes are based on Connors criterion for FEI which neglects both streamwise FEI and the effects of tube array pattern and pitch ratio. It is becoming clear that array geometry and pitch ratio are important determining factors in FEI, especially in the streamwise direction. This paper presents an extension of the theory of Lever and Weaver to consider arrays of flexible fluid-coupled tubes which are free to become unstable in both the transverse and streamwise directions. This simplified modelling approach has the advantages of being very tractable for numerical parametric studies and having no need for experimental data input. Previous research by the authors has shown that the predictions of this model agree very well with the available experiments for parallel triangular arrays for both transverse and streamwise FEI. In this paper, the results of such studies are presented for the both transverse and streamwise FEI for square inline and normal triangular arrays and compared with the authors’ previous results for parallel triangular arrays. It is shown that FEI is strongly influenced by array geometry, especially for small pitch ratio arrays operating at low values of the mass damping parameter. The results show good agreement with the available experimental data.


Author(s):  
Tomomichi Nakamura ◽  
Yoshiaki Fujita ◽  
Takuya Sumitani ◽  
Shinichiro Hagiwara

The in-flow instability of cylinder arrays corresponds to the in-plane instability of U-bend tubes in steam generators. This rarely occurring phenomenon has recently been observed in a nuclear power plant in U.S.A. For this reason, the importance of studying this instability has recently increased. The fluidelastic instability of a cylinder array caused by cross-flow was found to easily occur in air-flow and hardly in water-flow in our previous report. The present report introduces the results of this phenomenon in several patterns of triangular cylinder arrays in air-flow. The pitch spacing between cylinders is one of the parameters, which varies from P/D = 1.2 to 1.5, for a five-by-five cylinder array. The instability is examined both in the in-flow direction and in the transverse direction. The test cylinders are supported with thin plates to move in one direction. The number and the location of the flexibly supported cylinders are the other parameters. Differences between the instability in the in-flow and in the transverse direction are found. Among these differences the most important is the fact that the fluidelastic instability has not been observed for a single flexible cylinder in the in-flow direction, although it is observed in the transverse direction. However, the in-flow instability can be estimated with the Connors’ type formula as in the transverse direction.


2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 982-992 ◽  
Author(s):  
M AL-Jalali

Resistivity temperature – dependence and residual resistivity concentration-dependence in pure noble metals(Cu, Ag, Au) have been studied at low temperatures. Dominations of electron – dislocation and impurity, electron-electron, and electron-phonon scattering were analyzed, contribution of these mechanisms to resistivity were discussed, taking into consideration existing theoretical models and available experimental data, where some new results and ideas were investigated.


1985 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 920-929 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiří Sedláček

CNDO/2 calculations for simple models of adsorption and dehydration reactions of secondary aliphatic and aromatic alcohols on polar catalysts are presented. The models involve selected stages of elimination mechanisms of various types (E1, E2 and E1cB elimination). Calculated quantum chemical quantities were correlated with reported experimental data. It is shown that reactivities for the series of substituted phenylethanols correlate very well with the ease of carbonium ion formation. In the case of aliphatic alcohols, calculated quantities correlate generally with the reactivities on SiO2 and are in anticorrelation with the reactivities on Al2O3.NaOH.


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