Motion-Dependent Fluid Force Coefficients for Tube Arrays in Crossflow

Fluidelastic instability of tube arrays in crossflow is interesting academically and important in steam generators and heat exchangers. The key elements necessary to accurately predict fluidelastic instability of tube arrays in crossflow are motion-dependent fluid force coefficients. This paper presents several series of experiments that measure motion-dependent fluid forces for various tube arrays. Fluid damping and stiffness coefficients based on the unsteady flow theory were obtained as a function of reduced flow velocity, excitation amplitude, and Reynolds number, and the characteristics of motion-dependent fluid force coefficients were applied to provide some additional insights into fluidelastic instability.