NEW DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FLUIDELASTIC INSTABILITY IN HEAT EXCHANGER TUBE BUNDLES

Abstract Design equations are presented to determine the critical velocities for the occurrence of fluidelastic instability in uniform single-phase cross-flow. These equations are an essential part of a new guideline in the “VDI-Warmeatlas” for estimating vibration excitation in real tube bundle heat exchangers. Six existing guidelines for fluidelastic instability were tested and compared with about 300 experimental data from 34 papers (eight of them being not yet considered in a guideline before). New equations for the stability factor K as a function of the pitch ratio for different tube configurations were derived with statistical methods by a variation of the reference definitions for the structural parameters and the exponents of either the dimensionless mass and the damping or the mass-damping parameter. The criterion used here was first to be on the safe side with a minimum number, and minimum deviation, of experimental data below the recommended threshold line, and second a minimum r.m.s. error for all data considered. The pitch ratio has the strongest influence for the normal triangular array and the influence becomes less for the rotated as well as for the in-line square configuration. This significant gradation of the stability constants as a function of the pitch ratio and the tube bundle configuration enables a reasonable interpolation for non-standard configurations. The exponent of the dimensionless mass-damping parameter for gas cross-flow depends on the tube configuration and is 0·5 for the 30°- and 45°-configuration, and 0·4 for the 60°- and 90°-configuration. For liquid flow, an average exponent of 0·15 has been observed.