Dynamic modeling of heat exchanger tube-to-support interaction

Tube arrays in steam generators and heat exchangers operating in two-phase cross-flow are subjected sometimes to strong vibration due mainly to turbulence buffeting and fluidelastic forces. This can lead to tube damage by fatigue or fretting wear. A computer implementation of a fluidelastic instability model is proposed to determine with improved accuracy the fluidelastic forces and hence the critical instability flow velocity. Usually the fluidelastic instability is 'predicted', using the Connors relation with K=3. While the value of K can be determined experimentally to get an accurate prediction of the instability, the Connors relation does not allow good estimation of the fluid forces. Consequently the RMS value of the magnitude of vibration of the tube bundle, necessary to evaluate the work rate and the tube wear is only poorly estimated. The fluidelastic instability analysis presented here is based on the quasi-steady model, originally developed for single phase flow. The fluid forces are expressed in terms of the quasi-static drag and lift force coefficients and their derivatives which are determined experimentally. The forces also depend on the tube displacement and velocity. In the computer code ABAQUS, the fluid forces are provided in the user subroutines VDLOAD or VUEL. A typical simulation of the vibration of a single flexible tube within an array in two phase cross-flow is done in ABAQUS and the results are compared with the experimental measurements for a tube with similar physical properties. For a cantilever tube, in two phase cross-flow of void fraction 60 percent, the numerical critical flow velocity was 2.0 m/s compared to 1.8 m/s obtained experimentally. The relative error was 5 percent compared to 26.6 percent for the Connors relation with K=3. The simulation of the vibration of a typical tube in a steam generator is also presented. The numerical results show good agreement with experimental measurements. (author)