Anti-vibration in Tubular Heat Exchangers OMMI (Vol.

3, Issue 1) April 2004

www.ommi.co.uk

STUDY ON THE JUDGEMENT CRITERION AND MECHANISMS OF

ANTI-VIBRATION IN LARGE TUBULAR HEAT EXCHANGERS

Min-shan Liu, Qi-wu Dong & Xiao-dong Zhao, Thermal Energy Engineering Research Center,
Technology Institute of Zhengzhou University, 97 Wenhua Road, Zhengzhou, 450002, China
qwdong@zzu.edu.cn

Abstract

In this article, mechanisms of damage caused by flow-induced vibration such as leakage,

fretting, fatigue and fracture in large tubular heat exchangers are studied. Discriminating
formulae containing a dynamic magnification factor are given and reasonable measures for
vibration prevention are presented, which provide anti-vibration methods for the continuing
operation and life extension in large tubular heat exchangers.

1. Introduction

Heat exchangers are one kind of the main processing equipment in petrochemical industry, oil
refining, power generation, chemical fertilizer industry, light industry, metallurgical industry
etc. With the development of science and technology, the production capacity of the industries
mentioned above is becoming increasingly large, which has made the size of tubular heat
exchangers larger and larger. Accordingly, the baffle pitch is becoming bigger. In order to
increase the heat transfer coefficient and boost production efficiency, the flow rate on the
shell-side has to be enhanced. Consequently, in recent years, accidents caused by
flow-induced vibration have significantly increased. Vibration may result in fatigue, fretting,
fracture, leakage etc in heat exchange tubes, which can bring enormous economic loss to
enterprises. Therefore, in order to make heat exchangers work securely for long times and to
operate with their best efficiency, it is of great importance to study the damage mechanisms
caused by flow-induced vibration in tubular heat exchangers, and the criteria for assessing and
preventing vibration, which are also important for life extension and the optimal design of
heat exchangers.

2. Mechanism analysis of damage caused by vibration in large tubular heat exchangers

Generally, there are several major mechanisms for flow-induced vibration in large tubular
heat exchangers, such as vortex shedding, turbulent buffeting, fluid-elastic excitation, acoustic
resonance, etc. Damage [1,2] to heat exchangers caused by vibration is very serious and is
summarized as follows:
Anti-vibration in Tubular Heat Exchangers OMMI (Vol.3, Issue 1) April 2004 2

(1). Leakage at the joints of tubes and tubesheet caused by the maximum bending stress there.
(2). Augmentation of pressure drop caused by vibration.
(3). When the frequency of the exciting forces approaches the natural frequency of tube,
resonant vibration will occur. Moreover, if it occurs at the acoustic frequency, double resonant
vibration will take place, accompanied by severe noise.
(4). When vibrating, tubes suffer periodic alternating stresses and frequent bending, which can
result in fatigue failure of tubes due to tube material defects.
(5). Since the clearance between the tube and tube hole of the baffle is usually 0.4~0.8mm,
vibration can result in fretting failure of tubes and baffles, and tubes may be perforated by the
baffles due to vibration.
(6). When the vibration amplitude of the tube is too large, impact failure will occur between
tubes and between tube bundles and the shell wall.

3. Analysis of vibration prevention criteria

3.1 Calculation of Thorngren’s “Damage Numbers” for tube vibration

Thorngren [1] has presented two dimensionless “Damage Numbers” for two kinds of failure,
which can be used to predict the vibration failure of tubes caused by the sawing action of the
baffles, and vibration failure caused by impact fretting between adjacent tubes. Based on the
suppositions that the tubes are supported by the baffles and suffer uniform distributed external
forces, two “Damage Numbers” for vibration failure are derived.
Thorngren has defined the “Damage Number” at the baffles as
d o ⋅ rw 2 ⋅ L2
N BD = . (1)
β 1 ⋅ s m ⋅ g ⋅ Bt ⋅ Am

When N BD < 1 , the design is safe.

To avoid tubes colliding, the assumption is made that the maximum deflection, yo, in the
middle of tube span cannot exceed 50% of the tube span. The simplified “Damage Number”
for collision between tubes is obtained as follows:
0.625 ⋅ d o ⋅ rw 2 ⋅ L4
N CD = . (2)
β 1 ⋅ g ⋅ Am (d o2 + d i2 ) ⋅ C t ⋅ E
4

Similarly, the threshold of N CD for safe design requires N CD < 1 .

In Eq.(1) and Eq.(2), di and do refer to the inner and outer tube diameters respectively, r and w
represent the density and velocity of flow, Bt is the thickness of the baffle and β 1 is the

factor of clearance between the tubes and baffles, Ct stands for the tube span and Am is the
cross sectional area of metal in the tube.
Thorngren indicates that tubes will be destroyed if either of the two “Damage Numbers”
equals or exceeds 1.
Anti-vibration in Tubular Heat Exchangers OMMI (Vol.3, Issue 1) April 2004 3

From the above equations, there are certain deficiencies in the two “Damage Numbers”.
(1). Thorngren’s equations do not contain vibration parameters. In fact, tubes not only
collide with each other when vibrating, but also collide with the walls of the holes in the
baffles. According to the theory of elastic mechanics, there is an effect due to stress
concentration at the walls of the holes in the baffles. Thus, in the case of resonant vibration or
near resonant vibration, both the amplitudes and stresses of the tubes will be increased several,
or even several tens, of times. Therefore, it is a major defect in Thorngren’s judgment
criterion that he only takes into account the static deflection due to flow and disregards the
dynamic deflection and dynamic stress, which are relevant at the excited frequency.
(2). Thorngren hypothesizes during the formulization of the “Damage Numbers” that baffle
material has the same hardness as tube material, or is harder than it, which means that the wall
of the holes in the baffles cannot themselves wear and widen and the shearing stress due to
them cannot decrease. In practice, this hypothesis is conservative.
(3). Thorngren hypothesizes, during formula deduction, that flow acts as a uniform load,
but in practice, flow forces acting on tubes are not completely uniform.

3.2 Dynamic modification of vibration prevention criterion

During the actual operation of heat exchangers, due to the vibration of tubes, the dynamic
shearing stress and amplitude are both higher than the static ones. The values of dynamic
amplitude and shearing stress depend on the natural frequency of the tube, fn, the frequency of
the exciting force from the external flow, fVS, and the amplitude of the exciting forces.
Meanwhile, it is also relevant to consider the magnitude of damping of the internal and
external systems. However, as Thorngren has not taken vibration parameters into account his
predictions are not in good agreement with practice. Such are the main defects in the
derivation of Thorngren’s formulas. In the article, a dynamic magnification factor β is

incorporated and satisfactory predictions are obtained after the effect of this vibration factor is
included. The formulization of the two “Damage Numbers” containing the dynamic
magnification factor β is shown below.

d o rw 2
Uniform distributed external forces: FL = 1.5 (3)
g

FL ⋅ L2
Dynamic shearing force: Fd = βFs = β (a ) (4)
Bt

Dynamic deflection: y D = βy o = β ( K D ⋅ FL ⋅ L4 / EI ) (5)

In Eq.(4) and Eq.(5), β and KD are both parameters relevant to the support condition at both
ends of the tube. In fact, β is a dimensionless number. Although it is related to the clearance
between the tube and tube hole in the baffle, β is not equal to the clearance. In this paper, we
know that, when the clearance is 0.4mm (1/64 inch), β =1.25, and when clearance is 0.79mm
(1/32 inch), β =1, from semi-experimental data.
Anti-vibration in Tubular Heat Exchangers OMMI (Vol.3, Issue 1) April 2004 4

Assuming that the dynamic shearing forces, Fd, act on 40% of the cross-sectional area of the
tubes, the dynamic shearing forces on the tubes at the baffles are expressed as
Fd a ⋅ FL ⋅ L2
Sd = =β⋅ . (6)
0.4 Am 0.4 Am ⋅ Bt
Further, assuming that the dynamic shearing forces are less than the allowable fatigue stress
of the tube material, Sm, (which can be obtained from ASME, Section IV), namely:
a ⋅ FL ⋅ L2
Sd = β ⋅ ≤ Sm . (7)
0.4 Am ⋅ Bt
Substituting Eq.(3) into Eq.(7):
3.75d o ⋅ a ⋅ rw 2 ⋅ L2 1
< . (8)
g ⋅ Am ⋅ S m ⋅ Bt β
1
The clearance factor is defined as: β 1 = . When the clearance is 0.4mm, β 1 = 1.25 ; when
a
the clearance is 0.79mm, β 1 = 1.0 . So the criterion for the “Damage Number” at the baffles

is obtained as follows:
3.75d o ⋅ rw 2 ⋅ L2 1
If N BD = < , (9)
β 1 ⋅ S m ⋅ g ⋅ Am ⋅ Bt β
then the design is safe.
For the “Damage Number” for collision between tubes, NCD, suppose that the maximum
dynamic deflection in the middle of the tube span, yd, must be less than 50% of the tube pitch,
Ct, to prevent the tubes from colliding with each other. Namely:
FL ⋅ L4 C t
yd = β ⋅ K D ⋅ < . (10)
EI 2
Substituting Eq.(3) into Eq.(10):
3K D ⋅ d o ⋅ rw 2 ⋅ L4 1
< ,
π β
g ⋅ E ⋅ (d o2 − d i2 )( d o2 + d i2 ) ⋅ C t
64

48 K D ⋅ d o ⋅ rw 2 ⋅ L4 1
< ,
g ⋅ E ⋅ Am ⋅ (d o + d i ) ⋅ C t E β
2 2

π 2
where Am = (d o − d i2 ) .When both ends of tubes are simple supported, the supporting
4
factor is D=5/384. Considering the effect of the clearance factor, the criterion for the
“Damage Number” for collision between two tubes is expressed as follows:
0.625d o ⋅ rw 2 ⋅ L4 1
If N CD = < , (11)
β 1 ⋅ g ⋅ Am ⋅ (d o + d i ) ⋅ C t ⋅ E β
4 2 2
Anti-vibration in Tubular Heat Exchangers OMMI (Vol.3, Issue 1) April 2004 5

then the design is safe.

Applying the two “Damage Numbers”, with a vibration factor included to judge actual project
cases, predictions result which are more appropriate to engineering practice and more
accurate.

4. Anti-vibration measures

In order to prolong the lives of large tubular heat exchangers and to make them work securely,
anti-vibration structures and measures [3,4,5] are presented in the article as follows.

(1). Decreasing the flow rate on shell-side

The frequency of the flow-excited forces will decline if the crossflow flux, or rate, on the
shell-side is reduced. In this way, failure caused by flow-induced vibration can be avoided.
However, the productivity of the heat exchangers will decrease at the same time. It’s helpful,
however, to use double segmental baffles and structures with crossflow or divided flow to
prevent vibration and decreasing pressure drop.

(2). Changing the natural frequency of heat exchange tube

The most effective method is to reduce the tube span. If the tube span is reduced to half, the
natural frequency will increase about four times. Moreover, the natural frequency of the tubes
can be effectively enhanced by supporting both ends of the tubes with fixed bearings, and
increasing the bending modes of the heat exchange tubes. According to experiments, the
natural frequency of a tube can be effectively augmented by ensuring that heat exchange tubes
are in a state of tension stress or that the fit between the baffles and tubes are close to a force
fit. In this way, failures caused by flow-induced vibration can be avoided.

(3). Altering the array angle of tube bundles, α , or the ratio of segment and diameter, t/do
According to dynamic calculation, an effective anti-vibration measure is to have the tube
array angle, α , equal to 60º or 45º and the bigger t/do ratio is used. If α equals 30º or 90º,
vibration failures are more apt to occur.

(4). If vibration problems mainly result from a high flow rate at the entrance or exit region,
then increasing the nozzle size to reduce the flow rate at the inlet and outlet; by installing an
impingement plate, to avoid excessive exit forces on the tubes at the inlet and outlet; or even
installing a guide shell (or distributor), or jamming the space between the tube bundles and
shell and preventing any bypass flow in narrow spaces, are all effective measures, because
high local velocities in these regions will induce vibration failures.

(5). If manufacturing conditions permit, reducing the clearance between the tubes and tube
holes in the baffles, or increasing the thickness of the baffle, Bt, can lessen the shearing action
between tubes and baffles. In addition, fretting of the tubes can be reduced if the hardness of
the heat exchange tube material is lower than that of the baffle material. From the view of
elastic mechanics, the effect of local stress concentration can be greatly reduced if the edges
Anti-vibration in Tubular Heat Exchangers OMMI (Vol.3, Issue 1) April 2004 6

of the holes in the baffles are chamfered. However, such measures may increase
manufacturing cost and assembly difficulty.

(6). Utilizing new types of rod-supported structure in heat exchanger, can not only increase
heat transfer efficiency and decrease pressure drop, but can also effectively prevent
flow-induced vibration.

References

1. Song-wen Qian, Jia-sheng Wu, Wen-ming Zeng. Fundamentals of Flow-induced Vibration

in Heat Exchangers. Wuhan: Huazhong Institute of Technology Press, 1988. p14~60.
2. Dong Qiwu, Liu Minshan. The Dynamic Characteristic Analysis of Large Tubular Heat
Exchanger with Dynamic Finite Element Method. Proceedings of the International
Conference on Dynamic Vibration and control.1990. p104~109.
3. Qi-wu Dong, Min-shan Liu. Characteristic Research of the New Type Energy-Saving
Tubular Heat Exchanger with Longitudinal-Flow of Shellside Fluid. Proceedings of ICEE
Beggell House Press.1996. EIP96113428228.
4. Min-shan Liu, Qi-wu Dong. The Study of Random Dynamic Response of a New Type
Energy-Saving NHCS Heat Exchanger. Proceedings of ICEE Beggell House Press.1996.
EIP96113428229.
5. Min-shan Liu, Qi-wu Dong. Life extension of Tube-shell Heat Exchanger through
Vibration Analysis. Lifetime Management and Evaluation of Plant Structures and
Components. Sep.1998. p549~555.