EXPERIENCE WITH UNUSUAL ACOUSTIC VIBRATION IN HEAT EXCHANGER AND STEAM GENERATOR TUBE BANKS

Cases of atypical acoustic vibration in heat exchanger and steam generator tube banks are presented. The cases include a tubular air heater with acoustic vibration developed in the flow direction, a steam generator tube bank with vibration developed along the tubes, and a shell and tube process heat exchanger with acoustic vibration developed in the shell axial direction. The vibratory cases were compared with a number of steam generator tube banks in service which did not develop acoustic vibration. The vibration prediction methodology developed recently for heat exchangers vibrating in the transverse acoustic modes was applied to the cases studied. It is shown that this methodology is also applicable to the prediction of the unusual acoustic vibration described in this paper.