Abstract
This experimental study is aimed at clarifying the vibration characteristics of tube bundle subject to vertical cross flow. Following our 1st report on in-line array of tubes, this paper reports on staggered array of tubes, another configuration of tube bundle commonly applied in shell-and-tube type of heat exchangers. Test section, comprising flexibly mounted tubes over the whole tube bundle, was built to simulate the vibrating state. For visualization of the flow field, the heat tubes were simulated by transparent glass rods and the channel walls were made of acrylic resin. Displacement of the vibrating rods was captured by high-speed video camera, whereas instantaneous velocity fields around the rods were obtained by Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). Good agreement between the frequencies of the rod vibration and the fluctuation of the flow velocity component indicated a strong interaction between them.
