Damping of Heat Exchanger Tubes in Two-Phase Flow

Two-phase flow exists in many shell-and-tube heat exchangers such as condensers, evaporators and nuclear steam generators. Some knowledge on tube damping mechanisms is required to avoid flow-induced vibration problems.

This paper outlines the development of a semi-empirical model to formulate damping of heat exchanger tube bundles in two-phase cross-flow. The formulation is based on information available in the literature and on the results of recently completed experiments. The effects of several parameters such as flow velocity, void fraction, confinement, flow regime and fluid properties are discussed. These parameters are taken into consideration in the formulation of a practical design guideline.