STABILITY OF ELASTICALLY SUPPORTED PIPES CONVEYING FLUID WITH DISTRIBUTED FOLLOWER FORCE

The dynamic differential equation for pipes under the co-action of a distributed follower force and flowing fluid is established, and then it is discretized with Galerkin method by choosing the modal functions of an elastically supported beam as trial functions. The complex frequency and the critical flow velocity of elastically supported pipes conveying fluid with a distributed follower force are studied via solving eigenvalues. The influences of supporting stiffness, distributed follower force, flow velocity and mass ratio on the vibrations and stability of pipes conveying fluid are analyzed. Numerical results show that the variation of supporting stiffness has a great influence on critical flow velocity, and that the types of stability of pipes conveying fluid will be changed with the supporting stiffness and the direction and magnitude of the distributed follower force.