Experiment and analysis of instability of tube rows subject to liquid crossflow

A tube array subjected to crossflow may become unstable by either one or both of the two basic mechanisms: velocity mechanism and displacement mechanism. The significance of these two mechanisms depends on the mass-damping parameter. The velocity mechanism is dominant for tube arrays with a low mass-damping parameter, and the displacement mechanism is dominant for tube arrays with a high mass-damping parameter. This report presents an experimental and analytical investigation of tube rows in liquid crossflow. The main objective is to verify a mathematical model and the transition between the two mechanisms at the intermediate values of mass-damping parameter. Tests of two tube rows are conducted to determine the critical flow velocity as a function of system damping. Experimental and analytical results are found to be in good agreement