Fluidelastic instability of a tube array in two-phase cross-flow considering the effect of tube material

Abstract

Fluidelastic instability of a tube array is a key factor of the security of a nuclear power plant. An unsteady model of the fluidelastic instability of a tube array subjected to two-phase flow was developed to analyze the fluidelastic instability of tube bundles in two-phase flow. Based on this model, a computational program was written to calculate the eigenvalue and the critical velocity of the fluidelastic instability. The unsteady model and the program were verified by comparing with the experimental results reported previously. The influences of void fraction and the tube's material properties on the critical velocity were investigated. Numerical results showed that, with increasing the void fraction of the two-phase flow, the tube array becomes more stable. The results indicate that the critical velocities of the tube array made of stainless are much higher than those of the other two tube arrays within void fraction ranging from 20% to 80%. Keywords: Fluidelastic instability, Tube array, Two-phase flow, Critical velocity