Suppression of Low Energy Natural Modes of Pipe for Mitigation of Turbulence Induced Vibration

Turbulence induced vibrations are most commonly encountered in industrial piping’s. Several guidelines are available for knowhow and its mitigation in piping designs and acceptable limits of vibration beyond which fatigue failure may occur in pipes. In present paper, it has been emphasized to predict potential turbulence induced vibrations at Design Stage rather than to have the expensive trouble-shooting solutions after the fabrication of system. The detailed review of currently available methods for assessing flow-induced vibrations in piping systems, including current limitations in existing codes and guidelines are discussed. These limitations are centered on the empirical approach currently taken in codes and guidelines. In present paper, a rational approach has been proposed in which the turbulent kinetic energy of the fluid flow is compared against the kinetic energy required to vibrate the pipe beyond its allowable level of vibration. The proposed method has been accessed using a documented case study. The parameters needed to evaluate the relative energies of vibration to turbulent kinetic energy of the fluid flow can be determined from FEA software, which make the present approach practically feasible for the mitigation at design stage.