Flutter of Articulated Pipes at Finite Amplitude

Abstract

The plane motion of an articulated pipe made of two segments is examined and the flow velocity at which flutter manifests itself is sought. The pressure in the reservoir feeding the pipe is kept constant. In contrast to previous works, the flow velocity is not taken as a prescribed parameter of the system but is left to follow the laws of motion. This approach requires a nonlinear formulation of the problem and the equations of motion are solved using Krylov-Bogoliubov’s method. A graph of the amplitude of the limit cycles, as a function of the fluid-system mass ratio, is presented and conclusions are drawn as to the necessity of considering nonlinearities in the analysis.