Pipe Vibration Research Articles

Study on the influence of pipe effect on the vibration characteristics of electro-hydraulic exciter

In this paper, an electro-hydraulic exciter controlled by an alternating current distribution valve is proposed, and a systematic analysis of the influence of pipe effect on the vibration characteristics of the electro-hydraulic exciter is investigated by simulation and experiments. The vibration characteristics curves for different pipe parameters are obtained, and the relative errors between simulation and experiment are evaluated. Moreover, a significant regression model of pipe parameters and vibration characteristics of the electro-hydraulic exciter is established by using the quadratic regression analysis method and the Box-Behnken experiment design method. Significant differences in the influence of pipe parameters on vibration characteristics are obtained by ANOVA (Analysis of Variance), and the influence of pipe parameter interaction on vibration characteristics is discussed. The results show that the relative importance of pipe parameters on the vibration characteristics of electro-hydraulic exciter, from high to low, is as follows: pipe diameter, elastic modulus, and pipe length. Notably, there is also an interaction between the pipe parameters, and the significance of these interactions is ranked from high to low as the interaction between the layers of steel wire and diameter, the interaction between diameter and length, and the interaction between the layers of steel wire and length.

Numerical investigation on the effect of an orifice plate on the flow-induced and acoustically induced vibration of a gas transmission pipe

In this paper, a numerical method is proposed for investigating the flow-induced vibration (FIV) and acoustically induced vibration (AIV) of a straight pipe with an orifice plate. First, the turbulent pressure (TP) and acoustic pressure (AP) signals on the pipe wall were obtained through the simulation of an unsteady flow field and the application of Mohring's analogy, respectively. Subsequently, the FIV and AIV of the pipe were calculated by means of one-way fluid-structure interaction and acoustic-structure interaction, respectively. The calculated pressures, flow velocities, and sound powers at the monitoring point were in good agreement with the experimental results reported in the literature. The numerical results revealed that the power spectral densities of the AP were significantly higher than those of the TP on the surface of the tested end pipe, particularly at the natural frequencies of the acoustic modes. In the low-frequency regime, FIV was the dominant factor, whereas in the medium-high frequency regime, particularly above the cutoff frequency of the plane wave, AIV was the dominant factor. The findings of the parametric studies demonstrated that the AP and AIV of the pipe exhibited a considerable increase with the Mach number. Conversely, the TP and FIV demonstrated a more pronounced rise when the Mach number increased from 0.1 to 0.2, followed by a less pronounced increase when the Mach number increased from 0.2 to 0.3. A reduction in the orifice diameter resulted in an increase in the AP and AIV. In contrast, the TP and FIV exhibited a comparatively minor increase.

Field study on proactive pipe condition assessment using hydroacoustic noise

Condition assessment of water transmission pipelines is of important necessity for prioritizing rehabilitation and preventing catastrophic pipe failure. Hydraulic transient analysis has been investigated for three decades for this purpose and applied to many field studies. However, the significant pipe vibrations caused by the transient generation process and the limited energy and bandwidth of conventional discrete transient pressure waves (e.g., step and pulse waves) limit the accuracy and resolution of the analysis. This paper reports a pilot field study of noninvasive and nondestructive pipe condition assessment using small amplitude and persistent hydroacoustic noise instead of conventional large and discrete hydraulic transient waves. By opening a discharge valve installed at an existing access point, such as an air valve, on the field pipe, hydroacoustic noise was generated at the valve due to the turbulence of the discharge. The hydroacoustic noise was measured by pressure transducers at this access point as well as some other access points along the field pipe. A signal deconvolution process was then applied to the measured hydraulic pressures to transfer them to a compositional impulse response function (IRF), which is composed of IRFs of different pipe sections. A mathematical model was derived to interpret the anomaly-induced spikes on the deconvolution trace. A time-shifting process on the compositional IRFs was proposed to find the locations with pipe condition changes from a specific direction of the pipe. The field study has shown that small-amplitude persistent hydroacoustic noise can replace conventional large hydraulic transient waves for pipe condition assessment.

Multi-frequency harmonic balance method for nonlinear vibration of pipe conveying fluid under arbitrary dual-frequency excitation

Multi-frequency harmonic balance method for nonlinear vibration of pipe conveying fluid under arbitrary dual-frequency excitation

Exact closed-form solution for buckling and free vibration of pipes conveying fluid with intermediate elastic supports

In this paper, the exact closed-form solution is given to investigate the influence of the intermediate elastic support on the buckling and free vibration of an elastically supported pipe. According to the Euler–Bernoulli beam theory, the mechanical model of the pipe is established. The exact equilibrium configuration is derived using the generalised function method without enforcing continuity conditions. A simple solution to the eigenvalue problem is formulated using the methods of complex mode superposition and Laplace transformation. The comparative study shows the differences in the supercritical vibration characteristics and highlights the limitations of previous studies. Parametric studies are carried out to investigate the influence of elastic support and intermediate support conditions on the equilibrium configuration, critical flow velocity, and natural frequency. The results demonstrate that the proposed closed-form solution can determine the support conditions that lead to the maximum critical flow velocity and natural frequency of a pipe with multiple intermediate supports. The maximum values are required to adjust the support conditions leading to the nodes of higher-order equilibrium configurations and complex modes. Furthermore, the natural frequencies of the pipe conveying supercritical fluid no longer satisfy the monotonicity for the support stiffness, the symmetry for the support position, and the ‘zero-point’ property for the support number.

Particle damping equivalent method based on force chain for high frequency vibration reduction: Mechanism analysis and experimental verification

A particle damping equivalent method based on force chain is newly proposed for simulating the behavior of particle damper (PD) with higher accuracy. Compared with other existing equivalent methods, this method considers the contact between particles and evaluates the particle motion state. Firstly, the particle damping equivalent method based on the theory of force chain and contact model is proposed, and the simulation process of the equivalent method is described. Then, this equivalent method is adopted to simulate the high frequency vibration of pipe installed with PD using SAP2000 software. The simulated vibration response exhibits excellent agreement with experimental results, validating the effectiveness of the proposed equivalent method. Finally, based on the calculation results, it is observed that the particle motion state of the PD in the experiment is quasi-static. This further shows that the particle chain in the damper under high frequency vibration can ignore the wave propagation behavior, which aligns with the assumption of the particle contact model.

Attenuation properties of a meta-pipe: Analytical, experimental, and numerical prediction

Flexural vibration characteristics of a meta-pipe are investigated in this paper. Initially, the metamaterial piping system consisting of a homogeneous pipe and periodic flexible supports is designed. Subsequently, the dispersion relationship which is a function of the wavenumber and the frequency is derived employing the transfer matrix method and Bloch’s theorem. The designed system reveals a zero-frequency stopband and a wide passband in the examined frequency range, which are verified by both experimental and numerical results. To enhance the performance of this system, it is essential to effectively control the obtained passband. For this, a single-degree-of-freedom localized resonator is designed, which is subsequently installed at the center of each unit-cell of the pipe. The dispersion properties of this system are first evaluated analytically and then validated using experimental and numerical methods. Finally, the effect of pipe system parameters and resonator properties on the stopband characteristics is studied in depth. It was observed that the stopband properties can be effectively tuned by appropriately designing the piping system and resonators. The results presented in this study offer valuable insights into the propagation characteristics of flexural waves and the strategies devised for controlling vibrations in pipes.

Local resonance metamaterial-based integrated design for suppressing longitudinal and transverse waves in fluid-conveying pipes

To solve the problem of low broadband multi-directional vibration control of fluid-conveying pipes, a novel metamaterial periodic structure with multi-directional wide bandgaps is proposed. First, an integrated design method is proposed for the longitudinal and transverse wave control of fluid-conveying pipes, and a novel periodic structure unit model is constructed for vibration reduction. Based on the bandgap vibration reduction mechanism of the acoustic metamaterial periodic structure, the material parameters, structural parameters, and the arrangement interval of the periodic structure unit are optimized. The finite element method (FEM) is used to predict the vibration transmission characteristics of the fluid-conveying pipe installed with the vibration reduction periodic structure. Then, the wave/spectrum element method (WSEM) and experimental test are used to verify the calculated results above. Lastly, the vibration attenuation characteristics of the structure under different conditions, such as rubber material parameters, mass ring material, and fluid-structure coupling effect, are analyzed. The results show that the structure can produce a complete bandgap of 46 Hz–75 Hz in the low-frequency band below 100 Hz, which can effectively suppress the low broadband vibration of the fluid-conveying pipe. In addition, a high damping rubber material is used in the design of the periodic structure unit, which realizes the effective suppression of each formant peak of the pipe, and improves the vibration reduction effect of the fluid-conveying pipe. Meanwhile, the structure has the effect of suppressing both bending vibration and longitudinal vibration, and effectively inhibits the transmission of transverse waves and longitudinal waves in the pipe. The research results provide a reference for the application of acoustic metamaterials in the multi-directional vibration control of fluid-conveying pipes.

Dynamic analysis and shape sensing of pipes subjected to water hammer by the inverse finite element method

Pipe structures are commonly employed in modern industries. However, the transient pressure induced by water hammer leads to a high risk of structural damage, highlighting the importance of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). The inverse Finite Element Method (iFEM) offers a way to reverse structural deformations based on a set of discrete strain data. In this paper, the water hammer phenomenon in a Reservoir-Pipe-Valve (RPV) system is investigated. The element iQS4 is adopted to reconstruct dynamic deformations for the pipe using iFEM. The water hammer resulting from an instantaneous closure of the valve can generate significant fluid pressure, leading to severe pipe vibrations. The vibration deformations can be monitored by iFEM. The maximum error of the pipe nodal displacement is below 3 % and the average error is below 2 % in the proposed several sensor location cases, even the mesh of iFEM is coarser than the FE model. Among the sparse sensor location cases, the X path which is suitable for Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors has the highest accuracy of the displacement reconstruction. The results reveal a promising prospect in the real-time monitoring based on iFEM for pipes.

Multifunctional double network hydrogel with multi-directional actuation and high-precision sensing

Conductive hydrogels have gained great attention for applications in flexible electronics, electronic skins, and as human-machine interfaces. However, poor environmental tolerance of traditional hydrogels and defects in hydrogel actuator make them unfit for use in certain environments. Herein, a small natural molecule, proline (ZP), was introduced into the PAA/CS dual network system to prepare multifunctional hydrogel materials with high concentration of physically crosslinked metal coordination points. The elongation at break and mechanical strength of the hydrogel with optimized structure were 1277 % and 202 kPa, respectively. The effect of ZP on the destruction of hydrogen bonds of free water in the hydrogel provided the hydrogel with excellent temperature resistance. Multiple reversible interactions endowed the PAA/CS/Al0.5/ZP8 hydrogel with excellent self-healing properties at room temperature and even at −40 ℃. The PAA/CS/Al0.5/ZP8 hydrogel sensor with excellent comprehensive performance could be applied for the monitoring of a variety of human motions, small shape changes of flexible objects, and detection of vibrations in rigid pipes. The interactions between Fe3+, ascorbic acid, and -COOH groups on the hydrogel surface were used to record information and erase it repeatedly at low temperature and showed excellent shape memory. Based on the self-healing property, the hydrogel with gradients of swelling rates and water loss rates was assembled into a double-layer actuator, which could complete the actuation process in opposite directions in air and also underwater. This work provides a new idea for the design of soft robots and intelligent switches.

Monitoring Plant Piping Vibration through Spatial Frequency Distribution

Monitoring Plant Piping Vibration through Spatial Frequency Distribution

Vibration control of FG-pipe conveying fluid using a nonlinear absorber with nonlinear damping in longitudinal direction

This study investigates the use of a nonlinear absorber with nonlinear damping to mitigate the transverse vibrations of a fluid-conveying pipe made of functionally graded materials (FGM). The nonlinear effects arising from the pipe’s curvature and inertia are precisely accounted for in the equation of motion. The governing equations of the FGM pipe-nonlinear absorber system are derived using extended Hamilton’s principle and solved using the method of multiple scales. 1:1 internal resonance condition between the first natural frequency of the pipe and absorber is explored for transferring energy from the pipe to the absorber based on the modal interaction. The frequency-amplitude curves reveal that as the power-law index (n) increases, the nonlinear hardening behavior of the pipe decreases, while that of the absorber increases. Incorporating nonlinear damping in the absorber is found to further improve vibration suppression, leading to a strongly modulated response that reduces the pipe vibrations by over 84.57% and the absorber vibrations by over 94.57%. The impact of the absorber’s nonlinear stiffness on the strongly modulated response is also investigated, indicating that excessively high stiffness can cause the disappearance of this beneficial behavior. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into the optimal design of FGM pipes conveying fluid and the integration of nonlinear absorbers with nonlinear damping for enhanced vibration mitigation.

Investigation on fatigue crack propagation failure mechanism of hydraulic lifting pipe in deep‐ocean natural gas hydrate exploitation

AbstractIn deep‐ocean natural gas hydrate exploitation operation, the fatigue failure mechanism has attracted more and more attention from scholars, but it has not been effectively disclosed. Therefore, in this work, a multifield coupling and multiple‐nonlinear vibration model of lifting pipe is established, which can accurately determine the alternating stress of deep‐ocean lifting pipe. Second, according to Forman theory, the calculation method of crack propagation length and depth on the surface of a deep‐water riser is established, which is verified by the comparison between the experimental and theoretical model calculation results. The results demonstrate that, first, the effect of residual stress in the welded joint of deep‐ocean lifting pipe should be considered in the later parameter influence analysis. Second, the fatigue growth life of deep‐water pipe with small outflow velocity is mainly determined by tensile stress, and that is determined by both tensile stress and bending stress with large outflow velocity. Third, more attention should be paid to the vibration of the lower pipe on‐site to reduce its vibration frequency and vibration stress amplitude, which can effectively reduce the surface crack propagation state of the deep‐ocean pipe and improve the service life of the pipe. Fourth, properly adjusting the tension coefficient of the tensioner during field operation can effectively improve the safety of the pipe, and the optimal tension coefficient is related to the configuration of the deep‐ocean pipe system, which can be analyzed and determined by the model.

Development of a Prototype Non-volatile Heating Circuit with Pulsating Mode

The emergence of global energy crisis makes energy saving technology become the key technology of sustainable development. Enhanced heat transfer technology can improve the efficiency of various heat transfer equipment and reduce the weight and volume, which plays a vital role in energy saving and sustainable economic development. In recent years, based on theoretical and experimental research, Chinese researchers and technicians have developed many new technologies to strengthen heat transfer, such as cross-scaled elliptic tube, discontinuous double-inclined inner rib tube, spiral groove tube, spiral groove tube, inner fin tube, twisted elliptic tube and so on. Among them, the pulsating heat transfer technology is an efficient and energy-saving means that can significantly strengthen the convective transport operation and improve the heat transfer effect. Through fluid pulsation or the vibration of the heat transfer pipe, the technology can remove the dirt deposited on the heat exchange surface, reduce the thermal resistance of the dirt, and improve the performance and life of the heat exchanger. It is widely used in the cooling of electronic components, automobile turbines, and the utilization of atomic energy in Marine environment. Firstly, the construction scheme of the experimental device is proposed, and the working principle of the experimental device is described in detail. The complex impedance, frequency function, amplitude-frequency characteristic and phase-frequency characteristic are obtained by mathematical transformation of power supply circuit. Finally, the frequency response of the circuit is constructed.

Numerical Study on Valve Closing Criteria during Pump-turbine Start-up on Pump Mode

Abstract Vibrations of exhaust pipes have been observed in some hydropower stations during the exhaust process of pump-turbine start-up on pump mode due to water ingress into the pipes. It may have a safety risk for the pump-turbine start-up process when exhaust pipes are operating under the compressed air-water two phase flow. Since the numerical simulation researches about pump start-up process have been rarely reported and the development of flow field in exhaust pipe is lack of quantitative cognition, it calls for an urgent need to supplement related works. In this paper, the transient full-channel two-phase numerical simulation research on the pump mode return water exhaust process of a pumped power station is carried out by Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes approach. This work put emphasis on the characteristics of cone water level, runner torque and air speed in exhaust pipes after the compressed air released from the runner chamber. Then development laws and relationship with the exhaust valve closing timing are analysed and concluded. Results show that the cone water level, runner torque and air speed pulsation signal of exhaust pipes can be used as exhaust valve closing criteria, and the third criterion has the largest time margin.

Vibroacoustic modeling of a compressor piping system

The paper presents a finite element model of the compressor piping, developed in the Ansys software package using the APDL language. The finite element model was developed taking into account the real conditions of fastening pipeline sections in the form of installed supports. The calculation of the pipeline system began with the calculation of flow pulsations generated by the compressor, which were converted into pressure pulsations. The calculation results in the form of pipe vibration amplitude were obtained for each piping pipeline. The results obtained were compared with the vibration parameters recommended by GOST 32569-2013.

Experimental investigation on fluid-induced vibration of a semi-submerged flexible pipe in oncoming flows

Fluid-induced vibration (FIV) features of the semi-submerged flexible pipe in an oncoming flow are experimentally investigated in this paper. The flexible pipe is towed to simulate the equivalent uniform oncoming flow with a Froude number (Fr) ranging from 0.2 to 2.5. The overtopping states are determined and divided into three regions by the Fr numbers, including non-overtopping, intermitting overtopping, and continuous overtopping regions. Through the displacement reconstruction and wavelet transform methods, the displacement response, frequency, trajectory, and the chaotic characteristics of the semi-submerged pipe are studied. The results show that the FIV displacement responses are evidently affected by the intensity of the overtopping phenomenon. A significant mean displacement in the cross flow (CF) direction can be seen and a maximum value of 0.88D can be reached. The unexpectedly larger FIVs with standard deviation values of around 0.52D can be witnessed in the in-line (IL) direction than those for a fully submerged pipe. Moreover, the FIV frequency response in the IL direction is found to be consistent with that in the CF direction under intermitting overtopping and continuous overtopping state, and the corresponding Strouhal numbers are 0.24 and 0.28, respectively. The FIV response is found to be chaotic in non-overtopping states, while it behaves periodic and quasiperiodic features as overtopping occurs. The “O” shape of the motion trajectory is observed at such overtopping regions. The present work improves the basic understanding of the FIV features of the semi-submerged flexible pipe in the oncoming flow and can provide useful references for designing the relevant marine structures.

Dynamic deformation reconstruction of propulsion system pipe based on inverse finite element method

Pipes are necessary components of the propulsion system. The water hammer effect is easy to provoke severe vibration of the pipe, which is harmful to the safety of the propulsion system. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the health status of the propulsion system pipe in real time. In this paper, the FSI analysis is adopted to study the water hammer pressure and pipe vibration response caused by valve closure in RPV system. The iFEM algorithm is performed to invert the dynamic deformation of the pipe in real time. Four sensor layout schemes are considered, and the influence of sensor layout on the reconstruction accuracy based on the iFEM algorithm is discussed. It is concluded that the iFEM algorithm is very promising for the dynamic deformation reconstruction of the pipe.

Finite element analysis for free vibration of pipes conveying fluids–physical significance of complex mode shapes

A finite element formulation is presented for the natural vibration analysis of pipes conveying fluids. The solution of the resulting quadratic eigenvalue problem generally yields complex eigenvalues and eigenvectors. The present study then develops a robust mathematical procedure that combines the real and imaginary components of the eigenvectors to form physically attainable (i.e., real) mode shapes. The procedure yields a family of solutions that is more general than previously known solutions. The well-known classical mode shape is shown to be recoverable as a special case from the present solution. The study provides new insights on the effects of viscous damping, axial compressive force, and the flexibility of intermediate pipe supports on the response. Additionally, the study develops a novel algorithm based on Hermitian angles between eigenvectors to automate the tracing of mode evolution in the frequency-velocity plots.

An experimental investigation on the fluid–structure coupling in horizontal pipes conveying two-phase intermittent flow

Two-phase flow is typically found in several industrial applications, such as in the production and transportation of oil and gas in the petrochemical industry, in the catalytic cracking and microreactors in the chemical industry, and in nuclear reactor cooling pumps. Measurement of two-phase flow features is usually necessary and has been done in several ways, including pressure probes, resistive sensors, gamma-ray, wire-mesh sensor and many others. However, these are either intrusive or invasive techniques, which might be of challenging application in industrial environments, or rely on a hazardous radioactive source. Vibration-based measurement of two-phase flow in pipes stands out as a non-invasive/non-intrusive approach and, consequently, multiphase-flow induced vibration in pipes has receiving increasing attention in recent years. In this work, the dynamic behaviour of a horizontal tube conveying an intermittent two-phase gas-liquid flow is investigated based on indirect approaches. The phenomenon of fluid–structure coupling is investigated using acceleration and pressure measurement. Moreover, the bubble size distribution is estimated from high-speed camera images and a deep learning model for image segmentation, along with its spectral content and time modulation. Focus is given at frequency bands around the cut-on frequencies of the circumferential wave modes of the pipe. An approach based on the estimation of frequency response function of the pressure and vibration at the liquid slug and elongated bubble is proposed, such that the coherence function can be used as quantitative measure of the coupling. Two experimental conditions with intermittent flow are investigated as representative cases. It is shown that there is a great vibration amplification at the cut-on frequencies of circumferential wave modes in pipes due to the corresponding structural wave and pressure coupling. Consequently, the frequency of passage of bubble can be estimated from the demodulation of vibration response filtered at the cut-on modes. The experimental results pave the way for innovative vibration-based measurement approaches.