Parametric studies of process equipment tube/support plate impact models

The fretting wear of process equipment tubes is described in terms of the tube to tube support plate interaction forces which characterize this phenomenon. Double and multi-span tube configurations representing typical designs in current use are analyzed and the relation between the peak and root-mean-square (rms) impact forces at the tube to tube support plate interface are developed. The effect of the sliding (Coulomb) forces for whirling type excitation is presented. Non-dimensionalization with a view to scaling results for other configurations is discussed along with the suitability of the various measures used in predicting fretting wear. (orig.)