Detailed flow and force measurements in a rotated triangular tube bundle subjected to two-phase cross-flow

Abstract Two-phase cross-flow exists in many shell-and-tube heat exchangers. A detailed knowledge of the characteristics of two-phase cross-flow in tube bundles is required to understand and formulate flow-induced vibration parameters such as damping, fluidelastic instability, and random excitation due to turbulence. An experimental program was undertaken with a rotated-triangular array of cylinders subjected to air/water flow to simulate two-phase mixtures. The array is made of relatively large diameter cylinders (38 mm) to allow for detailed two-phase flow measurements between cylinders. Fiber-optic probes were developed to measure local void fraction. Local flow velocities and bubble diameters or characteristic lengths of the two-phase mixture are obtained by using double probes. Both the dynamic lift and drag forces were measured with a strain gauge instrumented cylinder.