SCIENCE CHINA

Technological Sciences
• RESEARCH PAPER • February 2010 Vol.53 No.2: 423–428
doi: 10.1007/s11431-009-0405-9

Effect of internal bubbly flow on pipe vibrations

ZHANG MingMing* & XU JianZhong
Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China

Received June 25, 2009; accepted September 7, 2009

This paper presents an experimental investigation on wall vibrations of a pipe due to injection of a uniform bubble cloud into
the pipe flow. For different bubble void fractions and averaged bubble sizes, the vibrations were measured using accelerome-
ters. To understand the underlying physics, the evolution of the vibration spectra along the streamwise direction was examined.
Results showed that wall vibrations were greatly enhanced up to 25 dB, compared with no bubble case. The characteristics of
the vibration were mainly dependent on void fraction. These vibrations were believed to be caused by two mechanisms: acous-
tic resonance and normal modes of the bubble cloud. The former, originating from the interaction between the first mode of the
bubble cloud and the first acoustic mode of the pipe, persisted along the entire pipe to enhance the vibration over a broad band
frequency range, while the later, due to the process of bubble formation, successively decayed in the streamwise direction.

pipe vibration, bubbly flow, acoustic resonance, normal mode, decay rate

Citation: Zhang M M, Xu J Z. Effect of internal bubbly flow on pipe vibrations. Sci China Tech Sci, 2010, 53: 423−428, doi: 10.1007/s11430-010-0405-4

1 Introduction
The pipe vibrations due to an external or internal bubbly
flow are often seen in many industrial heat exchangers. For
example, the external case is prevalent in the tubes of con-
densers, evaporators and nuclear steam generators while the
internal case is common in the pipes of boilers and reboilers.
Excessive vibrations may lead to the fatigue, crack and fret-
ting-wear of these mentioned industry components, which is
very costly from the viewpoint of the efficiency of mainte-
nance and loss. Therefore, the investigations of this kind of
vibrations have always attracted research interests for dec-
ades.
The pipe vibrations due to external bubbly flow have
been widely studied in the past using inexpensive gas bub-
bles. Joo and Dhir [1] mounted a single tube in an air/water
two-phase cross flow to investigate the relationship between
the tube streamwise vibration and the volumetric void frac-
*Corresponding author (email: mmzhang@mail.etp.ac.cn)
tion of bubbles (v). They observed that the vibration was
almost directly proportional to v2 as the Reynolds number
(Re), based on tube diameter (d) and flow velocity (U∞),
was higher than 2 × 104 while the vibration was the quad-
ratic function of v as Re < 104. Hara and Iijima [2] further
dealt with the effect of air bubbles on the vibration of two
tandem tubes with a pitch-to-diameter ratio of 3. Experi-
mental results revealed that the vibration of the upstream
tube was enhanced with increasing v when the reduced ve-
locity (= U∞/fnd, fn stands for the natural frequency of the
tube) was less than 3. Using numerical simulation, Uchi-
yama [3] analyzed the results in the two papers again and
attributed them to the variation of damping and hydrody-
namic mass of the fluid-structure system by the air bubbles.
Different from the previous theoretical models, Pettigrew
and his colleagues [4−7] used either a square or a triangle
tube bundle subjected to expensive vapor bubbly flow to
understand the real flow-induced vibration in a nuclear
steam generator. Although gas bubble and vapor bubble
situations are physically different, they exhibit similar
characteristics in terms of pipe vibrations [6, 8]. Based on

© Science China Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010 tech.scichina.com www.springerlink.com
424 ZHANG MingMing, et al. Sci China Tech Sci
their results, the main vibration mechanisms could be sum-
marized as fluidelastic instability and random turbulence
excitation [9]. The fluidelastic instability, appearing in the
form of either buckling or flutterlike oscillations, happened
when the interactions among the motion of all tubes in
two-phase flow generated a special force component that
was proportional to both tube displacement and in-phase
with tube velocities, leading to the great enhancement in the
vibration amplitude of the tubes. The random turbulence
excitation enhanced the near-field pressure fluctuation by
the presence of gas bubbles, which caused a broadband
random pressure field and thus distributed random excita-
tion forces to excite the motion of the tubes.
On the other hand, the pipe vibrations subjected to inter-
nal bubbly flow have never been investigated before. How-
ever, according to Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow Service
(HTFS), more than half of heat exchangers operate in an
environment of bubbly flow, including internal case. Con-
sidering the engineering significance, the internal vibration
case is also worth investigating. To this end, the characteris-
tic and physics of the pipe vibrations due to an internal in-
expensive carbon dioxide (CO2) bubbly flow have been
experimentally investigated in this paper. The effects of
various averaged bubble diameters and volumetric void
fractions on the pipe vibrations were measured using accel-
erometers. Furthermore, the streamwise evolutions of the
vibration were examined. Based on these results, the
mechanisms of the vibration were analyzed in detail.
2 Experimental details
Experiments were conducted in a closed-loop water tunnel
facility, schematically shown in Figure 1. The water was
first driven by two 15 HP centrifugal pumps, located in a
basement below the facility, to go into a settling chamber,
where a bubble cloud was introduced. Then the bubbly wa-
ter successively passed by a honeycomb, a streamlined re-
ducer before entering a square test pipe (0.145 m×0.145 m×
2 m), which was aligned vertically to prevent gravity induced,
Figure 1 Experimental test facility.
February (2010) Vol.53 No.2
streamwise variations in bubble distribution. After leaving
the test pipe, the bubbly water next flowed into two large
tanks, one of which was open to the atmosphere, for com-
pletely removing the bubbles prior to returning to the pumps
so that the size and spatial distribution of the bubbles could
be maintained. In addition, three strategies to isolate the test
pipe from external vibrations were used. First, the test
channel was supported by rubber vibration-isolation pad-
ding to reduce external environmental vibration due to other
machines in the building. Second, long flexible hoses were
widely used to avoid the excitations from other components
in the loop. Third, water was introduced into the settling
chamber through three of the chamber’s walls, passing
through perforated plates, and the remaining wall had a port
through which the bubble injector was inserted. By doing so,
the signatures of upstream pipes and pumps could be elimi-
nated.
To measure the pipe wall vibration, an aluminum plate of
1 m long, 0.145 m wide and 6.25 mm thick was flush em-
bedded in one of the pipe walls. The plate vibration was
isolated from the test pipe. The isolation was achieved by
mounting the plate between thick rubber gaskets to prevent
any direct contact with other solid components of the chan-
nel. In this way, the plate may only be excited by the vibra-
tion due to the bubbly flow, which will be mainly investi-
gated in this paper. The plate vibrations were measured us-
ing four low noise Kistler accelerometers (Model 8784A5)
with a sensitivity of 1.035 V/g. These accelerometers, at-
tached to the plate, were installed along the midline of the
plate in the streamwise direction and 0.127, 0.372, 0.607
and 0.797 m from the plate leading edge.
The bubbles were produced using the saturated solution
of carbon dioxide (CO2) and water. Specifically, water
spray was continuously exposed to CO2 at 2 MPa to dis-
solve it until a saturated situation was reached. Then the
saturated solution was injected into an array of stainless
steel porous tubes located in the settling chamber, each of
which had a length of 0.35 m, an inner diameter of 3.2 mm,
an outer diameter of 9.6 mm and a pore size of 0.2 μm. Due
to the pressure drop across the porous wall of the tubes, the
dissolved CO2 was released in forms of bubbles and thus a
bubble cloud was created, which was entrained by main
flow to enter into the test pipe.
The main characteristics of the CO2 bubble cloud, i.e. the
averaged bubble diameter (d) and volumetric void fraction
(v), were controlled and measured to investigate their effect
on pipe vibrations. The averaged bubble diameter was var-
ied by adding surfactant (pentanol-3) to the flow, at concen-
trations of 0, 6 and 12 ppm, which essentially changed the
surface tension of bubbles but did not affect flow viscosity
[10]. This resulted in the averaged bubble diameter of 0.80,
0.46 and 0.20 mm, respectively, indicated in Figure 2. A
white thick line with a length scale of 1 mm is placed at the
top left corner of each image for reference. These bubble
diameters were measured using the flow visualization function
 ZHANG MingMing, et al. Sci China Tech Sci February (2010) Vol.53 No.2 425

Figure 2 Typical images of the bubble cloud with various averaged bubbles diameters.

of a particle image velocimetry (PIV) system.

The void fraction was controlled by adjusting the reading
of a water dial flow meter (K) through a ball valve in the
supply line to the bubble injectors. In fact, the void fraction
v can be approximately estimated using [11]
QCO2
v= , (1)
QCO2 + Qw
where QCO2 and Qw are the volumetric flow rate of CO2
bubble cloud and water. Under the present experimental
condition, three low void fraction cases, i.e. v = 0.51%,
1.0% and 2.0%, will be investigated in this paper. As the
first stage, the present paper described the channel wall vi-
brations only for a couple of v and d cases to indicate the
phenomenon and uncover the possible physics behind. Ex- Figure 3 Typical power spectral density of plate acceleration for the
perimental work and analysis for a wider range of v and d same v (= 0.51%) and different d. Measurements were conducted using
accelerometer 1.
cases will be conducted in the near future.

3 Results and discussions

Experiments were first carried out to investigate the effect

of the bubble cloud on the acceleration spectra of the plate
in terms of different d and v, respectively. The typical re-
sults are illustrated in Figures 3 and 4, where v is kept at
0.51% for different d and d is kept at 0.46 mm for different
v, respectively. The measurements were conducted using
accelerometer 1. Obviously, the plate vibration, notwith-
standing small v, is amazingly strengthened in a broad fre-
quency band above 350 Hz on the order of 15−25 dB com-
pared to the no bubble case. The peaks at the first mode
frequency of the plate, i.e. f n(1,1) = 690 Hz, as determined
using the following equation: Figure 4 Typical power spectral density of plate acceleration for the
same d (= 0.46 mm) and different v. Measurements were conducted using
π ⎡⎛ p ⎞ ⎛ q ⎞ ⎤
2 2
EH 2 accelerometer 1.
f n( p ,q ) = ⎢⎜ ⎟ + ⎜ ⎟ ⎥ , p, q = 1,2…, (2)
2 ⎣⎝ L ⎠ ⎝ W ⎠ ⎦ 12 ρ (1 − υ 2 )
which assumes that the plate is simply supported at all ratio of aluminum, respectively. Note several peaks appear
edges [12], became invisible in the spectra with bubbles, within the low frequency range, which are believed to be
suggesting that the enhancement in the vibration was not the fundamental acoustic mode of pipe and normal modes
induced by the mode resonance of the plate. Here L, W and H of the bubble cloud and will be explained later. In addition,
are the length, width and height of the plate, respectively, and three interesting phenomena are easily noted. First, larger v
E, ρ and υ stand for Young’s modulus, density and Poisson’s and d correspond to stronger vibration, possibly due to higher
426 ZHANG MingMing, et al.
excitation energy. Second, the first spectral peak for the
same v almost emerges at similar frequency (Figure 3).
Third, the first spectral peak moves left with the increase in
v (Figure 4). Evidently, the plate vibration seems to be
much more dependent on v than d. This may be due to the
fact that the natural frequency (f0) of an individual bubble in
this paper is higher than 7 kHz, which is beyond the fre-
quency range investigated here and does not influence the
plate vibration. The f0 is calculated using the equation [13]
1 ⎛ 3γ Pa ⎞
f0 = ⎜ ⎟
πd ⎝ ρ w ⎠ , (3)
where γ is the polytropic coefficient [14], Pa the atmosphere
pressure, and ρw the density of water.
To understand the physics behind the results, the plate
vibrations for different v and d were simultaneously meas-
ured using all the four accelerometers. The representative
vibration spectra were indicated in Figure 5, which was ob-
tained when two bubble clouds, with different v of 0.51%
and 2.0% but same d of 0.8 mm, were introduced, respec-
tively. Apparently, the first spectral peaks, corresponding to
v = 0.51% and v = 2.0% case, always appear at 500 and 254
Hz, referenced as f1′ and f 2′ , along the entire channel.
These two frequencies approach the first mode frequencies
of the bubble cloud for the corresponding v cases, as esti-
Figure 5 Typical power spectral density of plate acceleration for different v, as measured by accelerometers. d = 0.80 mm.
Sci China Tech Sci February (2010) Vol.53 No.2
mated to be 510 and 261 Hz using the equation
−0.5
⎛ 12v(1 − v) R 2 ⎞
ft ′ = f01 + ⎜ 2 ⎟
(4)
⎝ (t − 0.5) π d ⎠
2 2
as the integer t = 1 and 2 [15]. Here R is the radius of a bub-
ble cloud. On the other hand, the sonic transmission speeds
(c) for the two different v cases were greatly reduced up to
140 and 72 m/s, respectively. The c was computed using the
equation reported in Brennen [16], i.e.
1
c= , (5)
⎡ ⎤⎡ v (1 − v) ⎤
⎢ ρ w (1 − v) + ρ CO2 v ⎥ ⎢ + ⎥
⎣ ⎦ ⎣ γ Pa ρ w cw ⎦
where ρ CO is the density of CO2 and cw is the sonic speed
2
in pure water. This is reasonable since the compressibility β
(= 1/ c ρ w ) of the pipe flow increases due to the introduc-
tion of the bubble cloud [17]. As a result, the sonic speed c
decreases. Based on these two sonic speeds, the first acous-
tic mode frequencies of the pipe flow ( f a′ ) can be roughly
calculated to be 483 and 248 Hz, respectively, using the
approximate relation f a′ = c/2L [17]. L denotes the width of
the channel, 0.145 m. Clearly, after the bubble cloud is in-
jected, the first acoustic mode frequency of the pipe flow,
 ZHANG MingMing, et al. Sci China Tech Sci February (2010) Vol.53 No.2 427

due to the variation in compressibility, is very close to the where km = ω/cm and k = ω/c are the wave numbers in pure
first mode frequency of the bubble cloud, suggesting the and bubbly waters, respectively, and W is the width of the
occurrence of strong acoustic resonance at f a′ . This strong bubbly layer. Similar to Lu’s, ω is a complex given
acoustic resonant interaction between bubble cloud and pipe by ω = 2π f + iα . Here f and α stand for a normal mode
flow may possibly cause higher mode resonances, which frequency and its corresponding characteristic decay rate.
may be partially responsible for the vibration enhancement An attractive fixed point mathematical iterative method [20]
at high frequency above 1500 Hz. was utilized to solve eqs. (6) and (7) and the numerical re-
Except the peaks at f1′ and f 2′ , some other spectral sults were listed in Table 1. For the purpose of comparison,
peaks can also be seen in Figure 5(a), which are classified Table 1 also shows the measured normal mode frequencies
into two groups, denoted as f1 ( m ) and f 2( n ) , m = 1, 2, 3 and in Figure 5. Evidently, the numerical and measured f1 ( m )
n = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. However, these peaks successively decay in and f 2( n ) , independent of v, are close to each other, justify-
the streamwise direction (Figures 5(b)−5(d)). For v = 0.51% ing the existences of normal modes at these frequencies.
case, the peaks at f1 ( m ) weaken faster with the decrease in Meanwhile, the larger the f1 ( m ) , the smaller the α, for v =
m while for v = 2.0% case, the peaks at f 2( n ) diminishes 0.51% case, while the larger the f 2( n ) , the bigger the α, for
more quickly with the increase in n. Lu [18] reported simi- v = 2.0% case. Similar trend was also observed by Lu [18].
lar phenomena when she calculated the normal modes of a This may be used to elucidate the variation of the normal
bubble layer near a rigid surface for different v. In her modes in the streamwise direction of the test pipe. In addi-
model, the frequencies like f1 ( m ) and f 2( n ) were referred as tion, the alteration in α with f1 ( m ) and f 2( n ) may be possibly
the normal mode frequencies of the bubble layer. Further- understood in a qualitative way. In fact, the normal mode
more, Nicholas et al. [19] explained the origin of these nor- oscillation of bubble cloud is transmitted in form of acoustic
mal modes in an experimental way. Specifically, as air is wave. According to Lu [18] and Prosperetti [21], the char-
pushed out of a bubble injector consisting of some gauge acteristic decay rate α for the present low v mainly arises
needles, the surface separating it from the surrounding wa- from thermal dissipation and acoustic dissipation. The for-
ter deforms near each needle until, at a certain instant, the mer leads to a dissipation of acoustic energy into heat while
opposing points come together and a closed surface is the later transfers part of acoustic energy contained in the
formed. The cavity thus produced is not in equilibrium, and coherent field into that of the incoherent acoustic field. At
it is this initial energy that gives rise to the oscillation of an very low v, e.g. v = 0.51% case, the former, approximately
individual bubble and the subsequent normal mode oscilla-
inversely proportional to frequency, is superior to the later.
tion of a bubble layer after the bubbles are detached from
Thus a larger f1 ( m ) corresponds to a smaller α. With the
the injectors. By the same token, the spectral peaks at f1 ( m )
increase of v, e.g. v = 2.0% case, the later, roughly propor-
and f 2( n ) may possibly be interpreted to be induced by the
tional to frequency, may quickly increase, and even be-
normal modes of the bubble cloud due to the formation comes larger than the former, causing the enhancement in α
process of bubbles since the essence of the bubble injector as f 2( n ) increases.
presently applied is similar to the one used by Nicholas et al.
In fact, this can be further proved by solving a mathematical
model on normal modes. This model is based on Lu’s
original one but simply modifying it through adding another Table 1 The normal mode frequencies of the bubble cloud and the cor-
responding decay rates for different v. d = 0.80 mm.
rigid surface to the other side of the bubble layer, which is
close to the present experimental condition. Based on effec- v = 0.51% v = 2.0%
tive wave equation already obtained by Lu [18] and bound- f1 (1)
f1 (2)
f1 (3)
f2
(1)
f2 (2)
f 2(3) f 2( 4 ) f 2(5)
ary conditions, the lateral normal modes of the bubble layer Computed
625 875 1125 422 543 663 784 905
in the model can be computed and separated into odd and f (Hz)
even modes, which correspond to pressure distributions Measured
665 866 1025 400 506 613 750 917
f (Hz)
antisymmetry and symmetry about the bubble layer’s
α (Hz) 972 731 489 363 484 605 725 846
mid-plane, respectively. The corresponding frequencies of
the odd and even modes can be indirectly calculated using
the following two equations for computing eigenfrequency
(ω): 4 Conclusions
⎛k W ⎞ k ⎛k W ⎞
cos ⎜ m ⎟ + i m sin ⎜ m ⎟ = 0 , (6) Experimental study of the pipe vibration subjected to an
⎝ 2 ⎠ km ⎝ 2 ⎠
internal bubbly flow has been presented in this paper. Based
⎛k W ⎞ k ⎛k W ⎞ on the results and analyses, two conclusions can be drawn
cos ⎜ m ⎟ + i m sin ⎜ m ⎟ = 0 , (7)
⎝ 2 ⎠ k ⎝ 2 ⎠ as follows.
428 ZHANG MingMing, et al. Sci China Tech Sci
(1) The pipe vibration is greatly enhanced after a uniform
bubble cloud is injected, although the bubble void fraction
is very small. Compared with no bubble case, the vibrations
increased up to 25 dB. The characteristic of the vibration is
mainly dependent on void fraction.
(2) The main physics behind the enhanced vibration lies
in an acoustic resonant interaction between the bubble cloud
and the pipe flow. In brief, as a bubble cloud is introduced,
the compressibility of the channel flow increases, causing a
significant impairment in the sonic transmission speed and
the subsequent acoustic mode frequency of the pipe flow.
This impaired acoustic mode frequency approaches the
mode frequency of the bubble cloud. As a result, a strong
acoustic resonance occurs, which results in an enhancement
in the vibration over a broad band frequency range. On the
other hand, the normal modes of the bubble cloud, due to
the bubble formation, may also induce the channel vibra-
tions. However, they are quickly attenuated along the
streamwise direction of the pipe
1 Joo J, Dhir V K. An experimental study of drag on a single tube and
on a tube in an array under two-phase cross flow. Int J Multiphase
Flow, 1994, 20(6): 1009−1019
2 Hara F, Iijima T. Vibrations of two circular cylinders in tandem sub-
jected to two-phase bubble cross flows. J Fluid Struct, 1989, 3:
389−404
3 Uchiyama T. Numerical prediction of added mass and damping for a
cylinder oscillating in confined incompressible gas-liquid two-phase
mixture. Nucl Eng Des, 2003, 222: 68−78
4 Pettigrew M J, Kim B S, Taylor C E, et al. Vibration of tube bundles
in two-phase cross-flow. Part 2: fluidelastic instability. J Press
Vess-T ASME, 1989, 111: 478−487
February (2010) Vol.53 No.2
5 Pettigrew M J, Taylor C E. Two-phase flow-induced vibration: An
overview. J Press Vess-T ASME, 1994, 116: 233−253
6 Pettigrew M J, Taylor C E, Janzen V P, et al. Vibration behavior of
rotated triangular tube bundles in two-phase cross flows. J Press
Vess-T ASME, 2002, 124: 144−153
7 Pettigrew M J, Zhang C, Mureithi N W, et al. Detailed flow and force
measurements in a rotated triangular tube bundle subjected to
two-phase cross-flow. J Fluid Struct, 2005, 20: 567−575
8 Weaver D S, Fitzpatrick J A. A review of cross-flow induced vibra-
tions in heat exchanger tube arrays. J Fluid Struct, 1988, 2: 73−93
9 Weaver D S, Ziada S, Au-Yang M K, et al. Flow-induced vibrations
in power and process plant components-progress and prospects. J
Press Vess-T ASME, 2000, 122: 339−348
10 Shen X C, Ceccio S L, Perlin M. Influence of bubble size on mi-
cro-bubble drag reduction. Exp Fluids, 2006, 41: 415−424
11 Merkle C L, Deutsch S. Microbubble drag reduction in liquid turbu-
lent boundary layers. Appl Mech Rev, 1992, 45(3): 103−127
12 Genta G. Vibration of Structures and Machines: Practical Aspects.
3rd ed. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1999. 124−128
13 Kozhevnikova I N, Bjørnø L. Experimental study of acoustical emis-
sion from bubble cloud excitation. Ultrasonics, 1992, 30(1): 21−25
14 Hwang P A, Teague W J. Low-frequency resonant scattering of bub-
ble clouds. J Atoms Ocean Tech, 2000, 17: 847−853
15 d’Agostino L, Brennen C E. Acoustical absorption and scattering
cross sections of spherical bubble clouds. J Acoust Soc Am, 1988,
84(6): 2126−2134
16 Brennen C E. Fundamentals of Multiphase Flow. Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 2005. 221−223
17 Morse P M, Ingard K U. Theoretical Acoustics. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1968
18 Lu, N Q. Bubble clouds as sources and scatters of underwater sound.
Ph.D Thesis, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA,
1990
19 Nicholas M, Roy R A, Crum L A, et al. Sound emissions by a labo-
ratory bubble cloud. J Acoust Soc Am, 1994, 95(6): 3171−3182
20 Kim C B. Fixed Point Theorems with Applications to Economics and
Game Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985
21 Prosperetti A. Thermal effects and damping mechanisms in the
forced radial oscillations of gas bubbles in liquids. J Acoust Soc Am,
1985, 16(1): 17−27