The stability of simply supported tubes conveying a compressible fluid

Abstract

This paper is concerned with establishing the conditions of static stability of a simply supported tube conveying a compressible fluid by application of Euler's method of equilibrium. Timoshenko beam theory is used to describe the tube motion whiler Euler's equations of motion govern the compressible flow through the tube. The eigenvalue problem associated with the linearized equations of motion first derived by Niordson is solved by using Muller's method. The effects on critical velocity of fluid sound speed, tube shear, and tube aspect ratio are parametrically studied. When the flow is subsonic, the aspect ratio increases the critical velocity predicted by the theory while increased aspect ratio decreases the critical velocity when the flow is supersonic. Reduced sound speed and tube shear modulus always reflect a reduced critical velocity for the onset of tube buckling or divergence instability.