ABSOLUTE AND CONVECTIVE BENDING INSTABILITIES IN FLUID-CONVEYING PIPES

Abstract The effect of internal plug flow on the lateral stability of fluid conveying pipes is investigated by determining the absolute or convective nature of the instability from the analytically derived linear dispersion relation. The fluid–structure interaction is modelled by following the work of Gregory & Paidoussis. The formulation of the fluid-conveying pipe problem is shown to be related to previous studies of a flat plate in the presence of uniform flow by Brazier-Smith & Scott and Crigthon & Oswell. The different domains of stability, convective instability, and absolute instability are explicitly derived in control parameter space. The effects of flow velocity, fluid–structure mass ratio, stiffness of the elastic foundation, bending rigidity and axial tension are considered. Absolute instability in flexural pipes prevails over a wide range of parameters. Convective instability is mostly found in tensioned pipes, which are modelled by a generalized linear Klein–Gordon equation. The impulse response is given in closed form or as an integral approximation and its behaviour confirms the results found directly from the dispersion equation.