Dynamics of a pipe conveying fluid flexibly restrained at the ends

The subject of this paper is the study of dynamics and stability of a pipe flexibly supported at its ends and conveying fluid. First, the equation of motion of the system is derived via the extended form of Hamilton׳s principle for open systems. In the derivation, the effect of flexible supports, modelled as linear translational and rotational springs, is appropriately considered in the equation of motion rather than in the boundary conditions. The resulting equation of motion is then discretized via the Galerkin method in which the eigenfunctions of a free-free Euler-Bernoulli beam are utilized. Thus, a general set of second-order ordinary differential equations emerges, in which, by setting the stiffness of the end-springs suitably, one can readily investigate the dynamics of various systems with either classical or non-classical boundary conditions. Several numerical analyses are initially performed, in which the eigenvalues of a simplified system (a beam) with flexible end-supports are obtained and then compared with numerical results, so as to verify the equation of motion, in its simplified form. Then, the dynamics of a pinned-free pipe conveying fluid is systematically investigated, in which it is found that a pinned-free pipe conveying fluid is generally neutrally stable until it becomes unstable via a Hopf bifurcation leading to flutter. The next part of the paper is devoted to studying the dynamics of a pinned-free pipe additionally constrained at the pinned end by a rotational spring. A wide range of dynamical behaviour is seen as the mass ratio of the system (mass of the fluid to the fluid+pipe mass) varies. It is surprising to see that for a range of rotational spring stiffness, an increase in the stiffness makes the pipe less stable. Finally, a pipe conveying fluid supported only by a translational and a rotational spring at the upstream end is considered. For this system, the critical flow velocity is determined for various values of spring constants, and several Argand diagrams along with modal shapes of the unstable modes are presented. The dynamics of this system is found to be very complex and often unpredictable (unexpected).