Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Flow Induced Vibration of Steam Control Valve

Abstract

Control valves of the main steam flow for power plants are operated under wide range of valve openings and pressure ratios. In the present paper, experimental and numerical investigations are described in order to clarify mechanisms of the valve head vibration. Experiments are conducted with two types of the valve head support. One is a flexible support and the other one is with an exciter. Results show that valve head vibrations with large amplitude appear with the flexibly supported valve head under certain range of valve openings and the pressure ratio. With the valve head exciter, dynamic fluid forces are measured. Results show that the added damping force becomes negative around the condition where the valve head oscillation is observed with flexible support. Numerical analyses are carried out in order to observe the flow field. In the simulations, forced vibrations of valve head are assumed. Results show that the pressure distribution on the valve head surface changes depending on the excitation frequencies, and as a result, the negative damping force occurs.