International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics 43 (2008) 1825

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Three-dimensional oscillations of a cantilever pipe conveying uid
Yahya Modarres-Sadeghi
1
, Michael P. Padoussis

, Christian Semler
Department of Mechanical Engineering, McGill University, 817 Sherbrooke W., Montreal, QC, Canada H3A 2K6
Received 9 April 2007; received in revised form 8 September 2007; accepted 11 September 2007
Abstract
The aim of the study described in this paper is to investigate the two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) utter of cantilevered
pipes conveying uid. Specically, by means of a complete set of non-linear equations of motion, two questions are addressed: (i) whether for
a system losing stability by either 2-D or 3-D utter the motion remains of the same type as the ow velocity is increased substantially beyond
the Hopf bifurcation precipitating the utter; (ii) whether the bifurcational behaviour of a horizontal system and a vertical one (sufciently
long for gravity to have an important effect on the dynamics) are substantially similar. Stability maps and tables are used to delineate areas in
a ow velocity versus mass parameter plane where 2-D or 3-D motions occur, and limit-cycle motions are illustrated by phaseplane plots,
PSDs and cross-sectional diagrams showing whether the motion is circular (3-D) or planar (2-D).
2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Pipe conveying uid; Cantilevered pipe; 2-D,3-D oscillations; Flutter; Stability
1. Introduction
The dynamical behaviour of a plain pipe conveying uid (i.e.,
a pipe without additional masses or springs attached to it) has
been studied extensively both theoretically and experimentally.
All such studies show that the system loses stability by utter.
2
The early studies showed that the observed utter remains in a
plane [110]; refer also to Padoussis [11, Section 3.5.6]. The
theory used in all of the work cited so far was based on two-
dimensional (2-D) linear models, by making the assumption
that utter is planar and that, at least near its onset, motions
remain small. The non-linear models began appearing in the
1980s, and were mostly for three-dimensional (3-D) motions,
e.g., [1214], although some others were for 2-D motions, e.g.,
[15,16].

Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: modarres@mit.edu (Y. Modarres-Sadeghi),
mary.orilli@mcgill.ca (M.P. Padoussis).
1
Currently at Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts In-
stitute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 5-422, Cambridge,
MA 02139, USA.
2
In constrast, articulated pipes conveying uid (a discrete model of the
continuously exible system) may lose stability either by utter or static
divergence [1].
0020-7462/$ - see front matter 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijnonlinmec.2007.09.005
The denitive work on 3-D non-linear dynamics of a hori-
zontal plain cantilevered pipe
3
conveying uid was done by
Bajaj and Sethna [17], making use of centre manifold and nor-
mal form techniques. They found that a horizontal pipe loses
stability and develops either 2-D (planar) or 3-D (orbital or ro-
tary) utter, depending on the mass parameter of the system,
(to be dened in Section 2; is equal to the mass of the uid
conveyed per unit length divided by the total mass per unit
length). Their results, however, are reliable only in the neigh-
bourhood of the Hopf bifurcation point, an essential limitation
of the centre manifold method.
On the other hand, it was found that an additional mass or
spring attached to the pipe could either stabilize or destabilize
the system vis--vis the plain pipe, depending on the system
parameters and location of the additional mass or spring (see
[10,11,1820]). Non-linear studies by Copeland and Moon
[21], Padoussis and Semler [22,23], Semler and Padoussis
[24] and Steindl and Troger [25,26] showed that in the case
of a pipe with an intermediate spring support (i.e., a spring
located somewhere between the clamped and free ends) or an
3
Here, by a horizontal pipe we understand that gravity effects are
either absent or negligible, which is not necessarily the case for a vertical
pipe.
Y. Modarres-Sadeghi et al. / International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics 43 (2008) 1825 19
Fig. 1. A schematic view of a plain pipe conveying uid.
end-mass (i.e., a mass attached at the free end), at sufciently
high post-critical ow velocities the system displays a very
rich dynamical behaviour, involving quasiperiodic and chaotic
oscillations (see also [11] for a comprehensive discussion).
Recently, by using a 3-D version of the non-linear equations of
motion [27], 3-D oscillations of a cantilevered pipe conveying
uid with an array of four springs attached to it at a given loca-
tion along the pipe [28] and in the presence of an end-mass (a
mass at the free end of the pipe) [29] have been studied. It was
shown that in the intermediate spring case, depending on the
spring array conguration, point of attachment and spring stiff-
ness, in some cases the system loses stability by planar utter,
and thereafter performs 2-D or 3-D periodic, quasiperiodic and
chaotic oscillations; in other cases, the system loses stability
by divergence, followed by oscillations in the plane of diver-
gence or perpendicular to it, again periodic, quasiperiodic or
chaotic. In the case of a pipe with an end-mass, it was shown
that the pipe loses stability by a Hopf bifurcation leading to
planar periodic oscillations; at higher ow velocities, planar
quasiperiodic and chaotic oscillations were obtained, followed
by 3-D quasiperiodic and chaotic motions. Some experiments
were performed in both studies [2729] generally supporting
the theoretical ndings.
In Copeland and Moons [21] experimental observations,
which were mainly for the case of a pipe with a mass attached
to its end, the plain cantilever proved to be a singular case,
where planar utter persists to the maximum ow available,
with no secondary bifurcations. In their experiments, the mass
parameter (dened in Eqs. (3)) was = 0.219; yet, the ob-
served utter was planar, which does not agree with Bajaj and
Sethnas [17] predictions of 3-D oscillations for horizontal can-
tilevers with that value of , most probably because of the im-
portance of gravity in these experiments involving a rather long
pipe, not considered in Bajaj and Sethnas model.
In this paper, using a set of newly derived 3-D non-linear
equations of motion [27], the case of a plain pipe (see Fig. 1)
with various mass parameters is investigated for ow velocities
much higher than the critical ones for the Hopf bifurcation, so as
to give a global viewof the dynamics of the system. The 2-Dand
3-Doscillations of the pipe as well as the possibility of existence
of quasiperiodic or chaotic oscillations are investigated. First,
a horizontal pipe is considered. The results for this case, in
the neighbourhood of Hopf bifurcation, can be compared with
those of Bajaj and Sethnas. Then, the effect of gravity is taken
into account, and a vertical pipe is investigated. Finally, a pipe
with the same physical properties as used in Copeland and
Moons experiments [21] is investigated, so as to compare the
theoretical results with the experimental ones and see if, by
taking into account the effect of gravity, our model predicts
planar utter motion, as observed in their experiments.
2. Equations of motion and the methods of solution
The equations of motion have been derived in Ref. [27,
Eqs. (40) and (41)] for a general case where there are some
intermediate springs as well as an end-mass attached to the
pipe. For the present study, all terms related to the intermediate
springs and end-mass have been deleted. The resulting dimen-
sionless form of these equations is

(4)
+ +2u

+u
2

(1 )
+

1
2

3
+
1
2

3
2

+
1
2

2
+

(1)
+2u

) d

+u
2

+(
2

(4)
+4

+
3
+
2

(4)
+3

2
)
+

0
(
2
+

2
+

) d

0
(
2
+

2
+

) d d+O(
4
)=0, (1)

(4)
+

+2u

+u
2

(1 )
+

1
2

3
+
1
2

3
2

+
1
2

2
+

(1 )
+2u

+u
2

+(
2

(4)
+4

+
3
+
2

(4)
+3

2
)+

0
(

2
+

+
2
+

) d

0
(

2
+

+
2
+

) d d+O(
4
) =0, (2)
20 Y. Modarres-Sadeghi et al. / International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics 43 (2008) 1825
where the dimensionless parameters are
=
s
L
, =
v
L
, =
w
L
, =

EI
m+M

1/2
t
L
2
,
u =

A
EI

1/2
UL, =
A
m+A
,
=
(mA) gL
3
EI
(3)
in which and are dimensionless transverse displacements, u
is the dimensionless ow velocity, the dimensionless gravity
parameter, a mass parameter, and the dimensionless time.
In Eqs. (3), s is the distance along the pipe, measured from the
clamped end, L is the length of the pipe, D its diameter and EI
its exural rigidity; is the density of the uid, m the mass per
unit length of the pipe, M the mass per unit length of the uid,
and U the dimensional ow velocity.
This dimensionless set of non-linear partial differential equa-
tions is discretized by Galerkins technique with the eigenfunc-
tions of a plain cantilevered beam as the basis functions. The
resulting set of ordinary differential equations is then solved by
Houbolts nite difference method [30] and AUTO [31]. For a
detailed discussion on the methods of solution see [32].
3. The dynamics of a horizontal pipe
In this section, the dynamical behaviour of a horizontal can-
tilevered pipe conveying uid is investigated when the mass
parameter, , is varied. For all values of , the pipe remains
at its original equilibrium position prior to losing stability by
a supercritical Hopf bifurcation, which gives rise to periodic
oscillations. Fig. 2 shows the critical ow velocities for the
Hopf bifurcation versus the mass parameter for the horizon-
tal pipe. The S-shaped segments in Fig. 2 which are associated
with jumps (as is increased) in the critical ow velocity for
the Hopf bifurcation have been observed and discussed before;
however, the origin of their existence is not fully understood
though it is clearly related to the modal content of the system
in the vicinity of utter (see [11, Section 3.5.4] and [33]).
Bajaj and Sethna [17] studied the behaviour of this system
for ow velocities in the vicinity of the Hopf bifurcation by
means of a theoretical model identical to the one used here,
utilizing the centre manifold reduction method, and showed
that the pipe undergoes planar or circular (orbital) oscillations,
depending on the mass parameter. A summary of their results is
given in Fig. 2. However, the centre manifold reduction method
does not permit the study of the non-linear behaviour of the
system far from the critical point for the Hopf bifurcation.
The equations of motion and the methods of solution utilized
in the present study, however, are valid for ow velocities sub-
stantially larger than the critical, and this makes it possible to
study the behaviour of the pipe over a wider range of ow.
4
4
It should be mentioned here that, with increasing ow velocity, the
number of modes used in the Galerkin technique must increase to get con-
verged results. In the results presented in this paper, a minimum number of
8 modes in each direction has been used. Sometimes in order to make sure
that the results are converged, up to 12 modes in each direction (24 in total)
have been used.
Table 1 gives the ow-velocity ranges for 2-D and 3-D oscilla-
tions of a horizontal pipe for a selection of mass parameters, .
The rst mass parameter in the table, =0.147, corresponds to
that of the pipe used in the experimental studies by Padoussis
and Semler [23], and the other values of have been chosen
so as to cover the whole range of possible values. To compare
with the results of Bajaj and Sethna [17] we rst concentrate on
the behaviour of the pipe for ow velocities just a little larger
than the critical for the Hopf bifurcation. The pipe undergoes
planar oscillation for all 0.5 except for = 0.2 where the
oscillations are 3-D. For large mass parameters, i.e., 0.6,
the pipe undergoes 3-D circular oscillations. In general, the
results found here are in agreement with Bajaj and Sethnas
(B&S for short form hereon), with some exceptions as will
be discussed in what follows. For = 0.7 and = 0.8, the
B&S model predicts 2-D oscillations, while a 3-D oscillation
has been predicted by the present model. The reason for this
difference may well be that both the centre manifold theory
and the Galerkin technique give approximate solutions. Also,
it ought to be mentioned that according to the B&S predic-
tions, the criterion of occurrence of 2-D or 3-D oscillations in
this range of is not satised by a large margin, and thus the
prediction of 2-D results is quite marginal.
5
Next, we study the behaviour of the system at higher ow
velocities. Table 1 shows that for = 0.147, the pipe under-
goes planar oscillations over the whole range of ow investi-
gated here (generally u
max
is of the order of 2u
HB
). Although
a pipe with slightly higher mass parameter ( =0.2) develops
3-D utter immediately after the Hopf bifurcation, these three-
dimensional oscillations become 2-D at a higher ow velocity
(u =10). Fig. 3 shows the time history and phaseplane plots,
PSDs and cross-sectional views corresponding to the 3-D and
2-D limit-cycle oscillations of the pipe with = 0.2 at u = 8
and u = 12, respectively. Fig. 3(d) shows clearly the circular
3-D motion of the pipe at this ow velocity, while Fig. 3(h)
shows the planar, 2-D oscillation.
The system with = 0.3 and = 0.4 undergoes planar os-
cillations for all ow velocities (Table 1). For =0.5 and 0.6,
the pipe oscillations switch between 2-D and 3-D many times.
For =0.7, 0.8 and 0.9 on the other hand, the system performs
3-D oscillations for all post-critical ow velocities considered.
In general, it has been found that the pipe undergoes mainly
2-D oscillations for small values of (except over a small range
of ow velocities for =0.2) and mainly 3-D oscillations for
large values of ; while = 0.5 and 0.6 are representative of
a transient range where the pipe oscillation switches from 2-D
to 3-D and back again many times.
The results here show that the 2-D/3-D oscillation of the
pipe changes not only by varying the mass parameter, but also
by varying the ow velocity for a xed . Thus, observing
5
The amplitude of possible planar and possible circular oscillations,
which were plotted in their paper, are very close to each other for these
values of as compared with the smaller values of . It is recalled here that,
according to the method used by B&S, the solution with the larger amplitude
is stable, while the other is unstable. In general, by increasing from 0 to
0.9, the difference between these two amplitudes decreases in their graph.
Y. Modarres-Sadeghi et al. / International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics 43 (2008) 1825 21
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
0 0.2 0.1 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
2-D 3-D 2-D 3-D 2-D
3-D
0.873 0.695 0.588 0.297 0.195
u
H
B

Fig. 2. Critical ow velocities for HB (u

HB
) versus the mass parameter , for = 0 found using 6 modes in each direction. Also, whether the oscillations
are 2-D or 3-D as predicted by Bajaj and Sethna [17] are shown.
Table 1
The 2-D (grey) or 3-D (black) oscillation of a horizontal pipe for various mass parameters
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
0. 147
0. 2
0. 3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
2-D or 3-D oscillations around the Hopf bifurcation point
does not guarantee that the motion will remain 2-D or 3-D at
higher ows. It should also be noted here that no quasiperi-
odic or chaotic oscillations were observed, at least up to the
maximum ow velocities studied. In this regard, it should be
pointed out that if one uses an insufcient number of modes
in the Galerkin discretization, quasiperiodic oscillations are
observed for high enough ow velocities; however, they dis-
appear when a sufcient number of modes are used to achieve
convergence.
4. The inuence of gravity; the dynamics of a vertical pipe
In this section, a similar study as in the previous section
is conducted, but for a vertical pipe, such that gravity effects
are no longer negligible; in terms of system parameters, this
translates into studying the inuence of on the dynamical
behaviour of the system. Keeping in mind that the majority
of experiments have been conducted with vertical pipes [11],
where gravity must be taken into account, the importance of
this study becomes more obvious. The gravity parameter is
assumed to be = 18.9, which corresponds to the pipe used
in the experiments by Padoussis and Semler [23]. Similarly to
the horizontal pipe, for all values of the mass parameter, the
pipe remains at its original equilibrium position prior to loss
of stability by a Hopf bifurcation, which gives rise to utter.
The lowest continuous line in Fig. 4 corresponds to the critical
ow velocity for the Hopf bifurcation as a function of the mass
parameter for the vertical pipe. Jumps in the graph are observed,
similar to those for the horizontal pipe (Fig. 2), but at smaller
values of ; e.g., the rst occurs at 0.24, as opposed to
0.3 in Fig. 2. Generally, the critical ow velocity of the
Hopf bifurcation for a vertical pipe is larger than that for a
horizontal one with the same mass parameter [6]. The resulting
oscillatory motion can be 2-D or 3-D, depending on the mass
parameter and the ow velocity, as can be observed in Fig. 4.
For = 0.147 the oscillations are 2-D for the whole range of
ow velocities studied, similarly to the horizontal case and in
agreement with the experimental observations of Padoussis and
Semler [23]. For a slightly greater value of the mass parameter,
the pipe undergoes 3-D oscillations over a ow range. This
3-D oscillation is followed by 2-D oscillations at higher ow
22 Y. Modarres-Sadeghi et al. / International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics 43 (2008) 1825
25 26 27 28 29 30
-1
-0.5
-0.5
-0.5
0
0
0.5
0.5
0.5
-0.5
0.5
1
25 26 27 28 29 30
-1
0
-0.5
0.5
0
1
0
-10
-5
0
0
5
10
-0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4
-15
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
0 5 10 15 20
-250
-200
-150
-100
-50
100
50
0 5 10 15 20
f
P
o
w
e
r

S
p
e
c
t
r
u
m

(
d
B
)
0
-250
-200
-150
-100
-50
100
50
P
o
w
e
r

S
p
e
c
t
r
u
m

(
d
B
)
f

-0.5
0
0.5

-0.5 0 0.5

. .
(a) (e)
(b) (f)
(c) (g)
(d) (h)
Fig. 3. (a)(c) Time history and phaseplane plots and PSD in the y-direction and (d) the view in the plane perpendicular to the pipe axis at the free end,
showing clearly a circular 3-D motion for a horizontal pipe with =0 and =0.2 at u=8; (eg) time history, phaseplane and PSD plots in the y-direction and
(h) the view in the plane perpendicular to the pipe axis at the free end, showing clearly a planar motion, for a horizontal pipe with =0 and =0.2 at u=12.
velocities; the motion remains 2-D thereafter over the range of
ow studied.
A pipe with a larger (0.25 < <0.4) undergoes 2-D
oscillations over the whole range of ow velocity studied,
similarly to the case of very small . The most interesting cases
are those for 0.4 < <0.65, where a vertical pipe switches
many times from 3-D to 2-D oscillations and vice versa. Simi-
larly to the horizontal case, after this transient range, a vertical
Y. Modarres-Sadeghi et al. / International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics 43 (2008) 1825 23
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Mass parameter,
N
o
n
d
i
m
e
n
s
i
o
n
a
l

f
l
o
w

v
e
l
o
c
i
t
y
,

u
2-D
3-D
Equilibrium
2-D
Maximum flow analysed
3-D
Fig. 4. Critical ow velocities for HB versus mass parameter as well as the ranges of 2-D and 3-D oscillations, =18.9 found using 8 modes in each direction.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
10 12 14 16 18 20
Nondimensional flow velocity, u
F
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y

o
f

o
s
c
i
l
l
a
t
i
o
n
s

(
d
i
m
e
n
s
i
o
n
l
e
s
s

H
z
)
Fig. 5. Dimensionless frequency (dimensionless Hz) versus dimensionless
ow velocity for the vertical pipe with =0.5 and =18.9, found by AUTO
using 8 modes in each direction. For values smaller than u =10.31, the pipe
is at its original static position (trivial solution).
pipe with >0.65 undergoes 3-D oscillation over the whole
range of ow.
It should be mentioned that in some cases (e.g., =0.5 and
u =14) different initial conditions were examined to see if the
reported 2-D or 3-D result is particular to the initial conditions
chosen or not. However, all the initial conditions examined give
the same results, indicating that the motion is insensitive to the
initial conditions chosen. Also, it ought to be noted that, for all
values of , in the numerical calculations, if the initial condition
of the pipe is assumed to be a displacement in one plane (planar
initial condition), its motion remains in that plane as time goes
on. In all the cases discussed here, the initial conditions given to
the pipe were in both transverse planes, such that the oscillation
was initially 3-D; when a planar oscillation is reported, this
means that the initially 3-D oscillation of the pipe becomes 2-D
after a transient period has elapsed.
10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
-0.4
-0.3
-0.2
-0.1
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
T
r
a
n
s
v
e
r
s
e

d
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t

1
Fig. 6. Bifurcation diagram for the vertical pipe with =0.5 and =18.9,
found by FDM using 8 modes in each direction. For values smaller than
u = 10.31, the pipe is at its original static position (trivial solution): ,
displacement in y-direction; o, displacement in z-direction.
The frequency of oscillation (whether 2-D or 3-D) increases
with ow velocity for all values of the mass parameter, as
shown in Fig. 5 for = 0.5. This gure shows that the fre-
quency of oscillation immediately after the Hopf bifurcation
point is around f = 4.5 dimensionless Hz; with increasing
ow, the frequency increases smoothly and continuously up
to f = 16 dimensionless Hz for u = 20, with no sign of any
jump in frequency. There are two humps in the frequency-
versus-ow graph at u 12.5 and 18. The correspondence
of these humps to any physical phenomenon is not obvious to
the authors; however, they may be related to the activation of
higher modes in the Galerkin expansion (as occurs when is
increased).
24 Y. Modarres-Sadeghi et al. / International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics 43 (2008) 1825
The bifurcation diagram for this case is shown in Fig. 6,
where the maximum non-dimensional amplitudes of oscillation
in two perpendicular directions (y and z) are plotted versus the
non-dimensional ow velocity. For u <10.3, where the pipe
remains in its original equilibrium position, the amplitudes are
zero, while for u >10.3, the pipe performs 2-D or 3-D os-
cillations. When the oscillations are orbital (3-D), the maxi-
mum amplitudes in the two directions are the same (e.g., for
11 <u <13), while for the 2-D oscillations, the maximum can
be either in the y- or z-plane. Note the difference in the max-
imum amplitude for u = 16 (the circle is the maximum) and
u =17 (the asterisk is the maximum).
In general, qualitatively, vertical pipes behave similarly to
the horizontal one (at least for the values of system parame-
ters investigated in this study). However, due to the inuence
of gravity, the corresponding critical values are different. Gen-
erally, the critical ow velocity of the Hopf bifurcation for a
given mass parameter is larger for a vertical pipe than for a
horizontal one.
5. Dynamics of a very long vertical pipe, =295.27
In this section, the dynamical behaviour of a very long ver-
tical pipe, namely with = 295.27 and = 0.219, used in
Copeland and Moons [21] experimental observations is stud-
ied. When the pipe is very long,
6
the corresponding gravity
parameter is large and therefore the inuence of gravity is more
obvious. Copeland and Moons experimental study was mainly
to investigate various routes to chaos for a pipe with an end-
mass. However, they also tested a plain pipe, and observed that
the system is subject to 2-D utter for all ow velocities greater
than the critical ow (u = 17.2) and up to the maximum at-
tainable ow velocity (u = 40). On the other hand, Bajaj and
Sethnas [17] study predicts a 3-D oscillation for a horizontal
pipe ( = 0) and the same mass parameter ( = 0.219). With
the model and method of solution used in this paper and for
the parameters of Copeland and Moons experiment, it is found
that the resulting oscillations are indeed planar at least for the
ow velocities investigated here (u <26), in agreement with
what was observed experimentally (the critical ow for the su-
percritical Hopf bifurcation was found to be u=15.9). If grav-
ity is neglected, the results obtained indicate a 3-D oscillation,
similarly to what Bajaj and Sethna had predicted. It should be
noted that the critical ow velocity for the Hopf bifurcation
for a horizontal pipe is u = 5.87, which is much smaller than
that for the vertical pipe discussed in this section ( =295.27):
u =15.87; thus as expected, there is a dramatic increase in the
critical ow velocity as is increasedcf. [11]. By changing
the mass parameter to = 0.6 and with the gravity parameter
of =295.27, 2-D or 3-D oscillations are observed for various
ow velocities. This shows that, similarly to the previous two
cases studied here, the 2-D/3-D oscillations of this long pipe
depend on both the mass parameter and ow velocity.
6
When >50 to 100, the effect of gravity becomes very important, and
this may serve as a loose separatrix between long and very long pipes.
6. Conclusion
In a very real sense, the present paper seeks to extend and
complement the ndings of the study made by Bajaj and Sethna
[17] in 1984, in which it was found that a (horizontal) can-
tilevered pipe conveying uid, after losing stability via a su-
percritical Hopf bifurcation, could develop either 2-D (planar)
or 3-D (circular) limit-cycle motion. That study was conducted
by means of a centre manifold technique which sui generis is
applicable only close to the bifurcation point, i.e., for ow ve-
locities not much larger than those at the instability threshold.
Hence, one important question was whether the 2-D or 3-D mo-
tion at onset persisted as the ow velocity was increased sub-
stantially beyond the instability threshold. The answer to that
question, similarly to whether 2-D or 3-D motions occurred
at onset, has been found in this work to depend mainly on
the mass parameter . Broadly, for small , there are no sec-
ondary bifurcations, so that the 2-D limit cycle at onset remains
2-D. An exception occurs in the vicinity of 0.2, where the
motion is initially 3-D and it changes to 2-D for high enough
ows. For large enough (0.70.9), on the other hand,
the motion is initially 3-D and it remains so, with increasing
ow. There is an intermediate range of (0.5 <0.7) where
the motion switches from 2-D or 3-D to 3-D or 2-D, as the case
may be, and back again several times, as the ow velocity is
increased.
Another question addressed is whether the dynamics for a
vertical pipe is qualitatively similar to that for a horizontal
one; this is important, as most of the available experimental
data have been gathered from more convenient experiments
conducted with vertical pipes. The answer from the results in
this paper is that there is very broad qualitative similarity in
the results: for small enough the limit cycles are mostly 2-D
(with an exception in the vicinity of 0.2, in this case too),
and for large enough , the limit cycles are 3-D. Once again,
for an intermediate range of , several secondary bifurcations
occur in succession as the ow velocity is increased, changing
the limit-cycle motion from one type to the other, and back
again, several times.
The results obtained were compared to the few available ex-
perimental data from several sources, and in all cases observa-
tions agree with the ndings in this paper.
A fundamental question raised by the present results and the
earlier ones by Bajaj and Sethna [17] is why 2-D utter arises
for some , while for others 3-D utter does. Briey, lest the
reader thinks that the answer is self-evident or easy, the an-
swer is not known. There are many intriguing phenomena as-
sociated with different dynamical behaviour in different ranges
of [11]. For instance, Lundgren et al. [12] found that for
a horizontal pipe with an inclined end-nozzle, the motion is
out-of-plane (i.e., perpendicular to the plane wherein the noz-
zle lies) for <0.21 and 0.42 < <0.66, while it is in-plane
for 0.21 < <0.42. Intriguingly, these ranges correspond to
those where non-linearities have been found to be stabilizing
or destabilizing, respectively, by Rousselet and Herrmann [14].
However, comparing these ranges to those of Fig. 2 shows that
they do not correspond. It is also known that the system with
Y. Modarres-Sadeghi et al. / International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics 43 (2008) 1825 25
<0.295 is stabilized by damping, while for >0.295 it is
destabilized [7,33], and that the behaviour in the latter range
is associated with the emergence of negative energy modes
[11]; however, there is no further alternation of characteris-
tics beyond 0.295. The purpose of this discussion is to
make the reader aware that there are several peculiar character-
istics, many more than given above, which remain unexplained
in terms of simple physical reasoning. They are all related to
this system being gyroscopic non-conservative or circula-
tory in Zieglers classication [34]. They are among the many
intriguing facets of the dynamical behaviour of pipes convey-
ing uid which have helped make this a veritable paradigm in
dynamics.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support given to this
research by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council (NSERC) of Canada.
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