Experimental Study of the Dynamic Response of Partially Filled Pipes Focused on Natural Frequencies and Mode Shapes

The presence of air in piping systems is a major concern in the industry. Problems like flow disruption, reduction of hydraulic machinery efficiencies or a significant drop in pipe capacity are many times related to this fact. The present paper aims to find a simple and non-intrusive experimental method to detect air in piping systems. The method, based on the dynamic properties of fluid-structure systems and underpinned by a novel low computational cost numerical simulation, accurately predicts the volume of water present in a pipe. Good agreement between numerical and experimental solutions has been obtained using much less computational effort than traditional fully coupled Fluid Structure Interaction with CFD analysis. From the numerical and experimental data, two different mathematical expressions relating the system natural frequencies, both vertically and horizontally, and the area occupied by the water have been obtained. These expressions account for the pipe geometry which theoretically would make them suitable for other diameter and wall thickness values. The paper is combined with a preliminary study of the system’s mode shapes for the different volumes of water.