Flow-induced vibrationof tube arrays with various pitch—to—diameter ratios

Tube arrays in cross flow start to vibrate abruptly when the flow reaches at a certain velocity. The threshold flow velocity depends upon the geometrical arrangement of tubes. It is very important for practical applications to understand the relations between the threshold velocity and pitch-to-diameter ratio of tube array. Unsteady fluid dynamic forces on a tube array with a pitch-to-diameter ratio of 2.0 were clarified experimentally and the characteristics of the threshold velocity were revealed by calculating the velocity with the unsteady forces. By comparing the threshold velocities of tube arrays of pitch-to-diameter ratio of 2.0 and 1.33, the characteristics of threshold velocity with respect to pitch-to-diameter ratio were clarified.