Experimental Investigation for Effects of Steam Wetness and Static Pressure on Acoustic Resonance Frequency at Side Branch Piping under Wet Steam Flow

Abstract

Flow-induced acoustic resonances in steam piping with closed side branches cause severe structural vibration and fatigue damage of piping and components in many industrial applications such as power plants. The steam state in the steam piping of power plants is not only dry steam but also wet steam. From our previous experiments under low-pressure wet steam flow, the resonance frequencies, which is important parameter to predict acoustic resonance, under wet steam obtained by the theoretical equation and assuming a saturated sound speed were within ±6% of the measured values. However, the static pressure in practical steam piping is often higher than that in our previous experiments. In this study, we conducted experiments on acoustic resonance in a single side branch under a high-quality wet steam flow with the static pressure as parameters to investigate the effects of the static pressure on acoustic resonance frequency under wet steam flow.