Multi-physics simulations of fluidelastic instability for tube bundles in cross-flow

Failure of tube bundles due to excessive flow-induced vibrations continues to affect the performance of nuclear power plant Early experimental studies concentrated on rigid structures and later investigators dealt with elastic structures because of their importance in many engineering fields. On the other hand, much less numerical work has been carried out, because of the numerical complexity associated with the problem. Conventional approaches usually decoupled the flow solution from the structural problem. The present numerical study proposes the methodology in analyzing the fluidelastic instability occurring in tube bundles by coupling the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) with the tube equation of motions. The motion of the structures is modeled by a spring-damper-mass system that allows transnational motion in two directions (a two-degree-of freedom system). The fluid motion and the cylinder response are solved in an iterative way, so that the interaction between the fluid and the structure can be accounted for property. The aim of the present work is to predict the fluidelastic instability of tube bundles and the associated phenomena, such as the response of the cylinder, the unsteady lift and drag on the cylinder, the vortex shedding frequency