Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science

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Dynamics of Tubular Cantilevers Conveying Fluid

M. P. Paidoussis
Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science 1970 12: 85
DOI: 10.1243/JMES_JOUR_1970_012_017_02

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 85

DYNAMICS OF TUBULAR CANTILEVERS CONVEYING FLUID

By M. P. Paidoussis*
In Part 1 a general theory is presented to account for the small, free, lateral motions of a
vertical, uniform, tubular cantilever conveying fluid, with the free end being either below
the clamped one (‘hanging’ cantilever) or above it (‘standing’ cantilever). Gravity forces
are not considered to be negligible.
It is shown that, when the velocity of the fluid exceeds a certain value, the cantilever in
all cases becomes subject to oscillatory instability. In the case of hanging cantilevers
buckling instability does not occur. Standing cantilevers, on the other hand, may buckle
under their own weight; it is shown that in some cases flow (within a certain range of flow
velocities) may render stable a system which would buckle in the absence of flow.
Extensive complex frequency calculations were conducted to illuminate the dynamical
behaviour of the system with increasing flow. The conditions of stability have also been
extensively calculated and stability maps constructed. It is shown that dissipative forces
may have either a stabilizing or a destabilizing effect on the system, partly depending on
the magnitude of these forces themselves.
The experiments described in Part 2 were designed to illustrate the dynamical
behaviour of vertical tubular cantilevers conveying fluid. The experiments were conducted
with rubber tubes conveying either water or air. The tubes were either hanging down or
standing upright.
It was observed that for sufficiently high flow velocities both hanging and standing
cantilevers become subject to oscillatory instability. It was also observed that standing
cantilevers which would buckle under their own weight in the absence of flow, in some
cases are rendered stable by flow within a certain range
- of flow velocities. Qualitative and
quantitative agreement between theory and experiment was satisfactorily good.

Part 1: Theory
INTRODUCTION
THE STUDY of the dynamics of flexible tubes conveying
fluid began with an attempt by Ashley and Haviland ( ~ ) t
to describe the vibrations observed in the Trans-Arabian
Pipeline. However, their formulation of the problem was
erroneous, as shown by Feodos’yev (2), who derived the
correct equation of motion for a tube conveying fluid and
analysed the case of a tube with both ends simply sup-
ported. The same problem was studied independently by
Housner (3) using a different approach. Feodos’yev and
Housner found that for sufficiently high flow velocities the
tube may buckle, essentially like a column subjected to
axial loading. The critical flow velocities for this buckling
instability were shown to be directly related to the Euler
buckling load for columns. A subsequent, elegant and
The M S . of this paper was received at the Institution on 5th M a y
1969 and accepted for publication on 25th July 1969. 23
* Assistant Professor, Department of MechanicaI Engineering, McGill
University, Montreal, Canada. Member of the Institution.
t References are given in Appendix 2.
J O U R N A L MECHANICAL E N G I N E E R I N G S C I E N C E
more general study by Niordson (4) led to the same
equation of motion and essentially the same conclusions
regarding stability for tubes with simply supported ends.
I n all the above studies gravity forces were either absent
or presumed to be negligible.
The dynamics of tubes with one end free, i.e. tubular
cantilevers, containing flowing fluid was first studied
theoretically in an outstanding paper by Benjamin (9, as
a limiting case of a system of articulated pipes conveying
fluid, as the number of degrees of freedom tends to infinity.
Benjamin was the first author to observe that the dynam-
ical problem is independent of the effect of fluid friction.
The problem was further studied by Gregory and
Paidoussis (6) (7) in the case of horizontal cantilevers
where the motions are confined in a horizontal plane, so
that gravity forces are inoperative. I t was found that for
sufficiently high flow velocities the system is subject to
flexural oscillatory instability. The conditions of neutral
stability were calculated (a), and a stability curve was
obtained relating a dimensionless critical flow velocity to
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86 M. P. PAIDOUSSIS

a dimensionless parameter relating the masses of the fluid A parameter defined by (M+m)gL3/EI.
and of the tube per unit length. This is a 'universal' Dimensionless viscous damping coefficient.
stability curve, so that the conditions of neutral stability Eigenvalues of a cantilever beam.
could be obtained for any system of known physical Hysteretic damping coefficient.
properties. Theory and experiment were found to agree Dimensionless longitudinal co-ordinate.
fairly well, particularly when the internal (structural) Dimensionless time, defined by
damping in the material of the tube was taken into account. +
{ EZ/[( M m)L4]) ' 2t.
It is noteworthy that it was found that damping in some Eigenfunctions of a cantilever beam.
cases destabilizes the system. Circular frequency of oscillation.
Buckling instability was shown to be impossible in the Dimensionless circular frequency,
case of horizontal cantilevers, both by Benjamin and by [( M + nz)/EZ] /2QL2.
Gregory and Paidoussis in different ways. However, Other quantities are defined in the text.
Benjamin (5) found that buckling may be possible if
gravity is operative. Moreover, in his experiments with
vertical articulated pipes Benjamin (8) found that buckling GENERALTHEORY
is possible if the fluid is water but not if the fluid is air.
The equation of small lateral motions
The clarification of this perplexing finding was one of the
reasons for undertaking the present study, which is The system under consideration (Fig. 1) consists of a
essentially an extension of Gregory and Paidoussis's work tubular cantilever of length L, internal perimeter S, mass
to the case of vertical cantilevers. per unit length m, and flexural rigidity EI, conveying fluid
The stability of tubular cantilevers conveying fluid of mass per unit length M , flowing axially with velocity
(neglecting gravity forces) was further discussed by U and discharging at the free end. The cross-sectional
Nemat-Nasser, Prasad and Herrmann (9), with emphasis flow area is A and the fluid pressure, measured above the
on the effect on stability of velocity-dependent forces, such atmospheric, is p. T h e tube in its undeformed (equili-
as damping and Coriolis forces; they showed that such brium) state hangs vertically, its axis coinciding with the
forces may destabilize the system. Subsequent papers by x-axis.
Herrmann (10) and Herrmann and Nemat-Nasser ( I I) Consider elements 6x of the tube and of the enclosed
link the problem of instability of a cantilever conveying fluid, subjected to a small lateral motion y(x, t), as shown
fluid to the more general problem of a cantilever subjected in Fig. 2.
to 'follower'-type forces, i.e. forces which retain the same Subject to the limitation that the diameter of the tube
angular disposition to the free end in the course of small is small compared to the wavelength of any distrubance to
motions of the cantilever. its centre-line when vibrating, the accelerations of a fluid
A recent study by Stein (12), which is mainly concerned particle in the x- and y-directions are respectively zero
with infinitely long tubes conveying fluid, brings to the and [ ( ; ' / L t ) + U ( t / t ~ ) ]to~ ythe first order in the small
fore a correction to the equation of motion as derived in displacement y and its derivatives (4). Thus for the fluid
the studies discussed so far. This correction, which was element, force balances in the x- and y-directions yield
apparently first recognized by Heinrich (13), arises from tP i'Y
the effect of internal pressure and may become significant -A--qS+Mg+F,=O
ax dx
. .
for sufficiently high pressures. This matter is further
discussed in the next section.

Notation
A Internal cross-sectional area of the tube.
EI Flexural rigidity of the tube.
g Acceleration due to gravity.
L Length of the tube.
M , m Masses of fluid and tube, respectively, per unit
length.
P Internal pressure in the tube.
T Axial tension in the tube.
t Time.
U Mean flow velocity in the tube.
U x
Dimensionless flow velocity defined by (M,/EZ)1!2
UL.
X Longitudinal co-ordinate.
Y Lateral deflection of the tube.
P A parameter defined by M / ( M + m ) . Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the system
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 DYNAMICS OF TUBULAR CANTILEVERS CONVEYING FLUID 87

\pA 7 fr

-/A+ g 6 x

U b

Fig. 2. Forces and moments acting on elements of the fluid and the tube, (a) and (b) respectively

where q is the shear stress on the internal surface of the
tube and F is the transverse force per unit length between
tube wall and fluid.
Similarly, for the tube element we obtain
which is the equation of small lateral motions. The terms
may be identified, in sequence, as the flexural restoring
force, the fluid inertia force, the gravity force, and the
tube inertia force. Re-grouping, equation (8) may be
written as follows:

The same equation was also derived by Hamilton’s

where T is the longitudinal tension, Q is the transverse
shear force in the tube and AY is the bending moment;
terms of second order of magnitude were neglected in
accordance with the Euler beam approximation for small
lateral motions.
Subtracting equation (4) from equation (2) and making
use of equation (5) we obtain
. . .
Adding equations (1) and (3), we obtain
6 when both ends of the tube are supported. It was shown
- (T-pA)+(M+m)g = 0
i-X
which integrated from x to L may be written as
(T-pA),-(T-pA),+(M+m) (L-x)g = 0
We note that both T and p are zero at x = L, the latter
since it is measured above the atmospheric pressure;
hence this equation yields
T-PA = (M+m)(L-x)g . . (7)
Substituting equation (7) into equation (6), we obtain
JOURNAL MECHANICAL ENGINEERING SCIENCE
2
principle (14). Small lateral motions of the tube must
satisfy this equation, subject to the boundary conditions
applying to lateral motions of a cantilever, namely
y(0) = y’(0) = y”(L)= y’”(L)= 0 . (10)
the primes denoting differentiation with respect to x.
It is noted that in the absence of flow equation (9)
reduces to the equation of motion of a heavy vertical
beam; moreover, if flexural restoring forces are also
absent, the equation is that of a hanging chain (15). I n the
absence of gravity forces, on the other hand, equation (9)
(6) reduces to the equation derived by Gregory and Paidoussis
(6) for a horizontal tubular cantilever conveying fluid.
Equation (9) applies also, subject to some limitations,
by Heinrich (13) and elaborated by Stein (12)that if the
tube is pressurized to a pressure po (with the ends remain-
ing ‘open’ to the fluid), there will be a lateral force
p O A ( 2 z y / i ~ which
2) arises because the radial pressure is
acting over a larger area on the tensile side of the neutral
axis of the tubular beam than on the compressive side.
The action of this term on the system is equivalent to an
axial compressive load of magnitude poA.(One remarkable
effect of this is that buckling of tubes with both ends
supported may be induced by pressurization alone.)
Similarly if an external tension To is applied to the tube,
a lateral force equal to - T o ( b 2 y / i ~ xwill
2 ) arise. According-
ly, for tubes with both ends supported, a term equal to
(p,A-To) ( c ‘ z y / a ~ 2 )
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88 M. P. PAIDOUSSIS
must be added to equation (9) to take account of possible
pressurization and external tensioning of the tube. This
aspect of the dynamical problem was recently studied
theoretically and experimentally by Naguleswaran and
Williams (16).[Of course, in the case of a tubular canti-
lever, where the flow discharges to atmosphere, p,ressuriza-
tion is not possible; neither is external tensiomng of the
tube. T h e internal pressure and the tension at any point
are governed by the frictional pressure drop and by
gravity, as discussed earlier (cf. equations (l), (3)). It is a
remarkable feature of the problem, however, that the net
effect of pressure and tension forces is independent of fluid
friction (equation (7)), so that fluid friction does not enter
into the problem.]
It is also noted that equation (9) does not contain any
dissipation terms. I n general there will be dissipation due
to friction between the tube and the surrounding fluid
medium in the course of lateral motions of the tube. There
will also be dissipation in the material of the tube (struc-
tural damping). Here we assume that the dissipative forces
are small and we shall study the general dynamical
behaviour of the system without taking them into account.
However, the effect of dissipative forces specifically on
stability is discussed later, as it has already been shown
that stability can be significantly influenced by these
forces (7).
Finally, it is noted that equations (9) and (10) also apply
if the position of rest of the cantilever and its motion take
place in a plane inclined to the gravity vector by an angle
0, rather than hanging down, provided g cos H is used
instead of g. Here, apart from hanging cantilevers ( H = 0),
we shall also discuss standing cantilevers, where the free
end is above the clamped one ( 0 = n), so that -g is used
in equation (9) instead of g.
Dimensionless parameters
We express the problem in dimensionless terms by
defining the following quantities :
. . .
the + sign in the expression for y applying to hanging
cantilevers and the - sign to standing cantilevers.
Substituting equation (11) into equations (9) and (10)
we obtain
. . . (12)
and
~(0= ) 0 . (13)
) ~ ’ ( 0 )= ~ ” ( 1 )= ~ ” ’ ( 1=
We thus see that the dynamics of the system depends on
three parameters : ,8, which is a function of the mass of the
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fluid and the tube and must be within the limits
0 < p < 1; 7, which depends on the gravimetric and
flexural properties of the system; and u, which is a
dimensionless flow velocity. Of course different dimen-
sionless parameters could have been chosen; for instance,
instead of u we could have used the Froude number
F = U/(gL)’ which is related to u by u = (,k?y)l2F.
Analysis
Let us now consider motions such that
dE, 7) = Y(E)e“”
where w is a dimensionless frequency related to the
circular frequency of motion SC! by
w = [(M+m)/EZ]’ 252L2
I n general w will be complex and the system will be
stable or unstable according to whether the imaginary
component of w , Im(w), is positive or negative; in the case
of neutral stability w is wholly real.
We now express Y(6)by superposition of the infinite
set of the normal modes of a cantilever, i.e.
where +,([) are the eigenfunctions of a cantilever expressed
in dimensionless form. This approach is, of course, useful
only if the motion of the tube may be adequately approxi-
mated by a small number of these eigenfunctions, such
that the sum may be truncated at a reasonably small value
of r . This is shown to be the case in the next section. This
solution, of course, automatically satisfies the boundary
conditions (13).
Substituting equation (14) into equation (12) we obtain
r=l
T h e terms +r”(E), E+,”(E) and +,’(E) can be expressed in
terms of +,([) by the series
a, m
I= 1
T h e b,,, cTSand d,, are determined from the properties of
the eigenfunctions and the boundary conditions (cf. (6));
they are given by
4
b,, =
(As/&)’+(- 1)‘ +
Vol 12 No 2 1970
 DYNAMICS OF TUBULAR CANTILEVERS CONVEYING FLUID 89

increasing values of the dimensionless flow velocity u,

drr = Jcrr
where the A, are the dimensionless eigenvalues of a
cantilever beam, and U, are constants given by
cr, = (sinh A,-sin A,)/(cosh A,+cos A,)
Multiplying now equation (16) by r)J(f),j= 1, 2, 3 . .
in turn, and integrating from 0 to 1, by virtue of the
orthogonality of the eigenfunctions we obtain the following
infinite set of linear equations
m
2 [(Aj4- ~~)8~~+(u~-y)c,~+(y+2j3~~~uwi)b,~
r=1
+ydrr]a, = 0, j = 1,2,3.
where 8,, is the Kronecker delta. The condition for non-
trivial solution of equations (17) is that the determinant
of the coefficients of a, must vanish. This determinant is
of infinite order, but, assuming that the motion can be
adequately represented by synthesis of the lowest n
eigenfunctions, it reduces to one of order n.
THE FREQUENCY A S A FUNCTION OF
F L O W VELOCITY
For any given system, p and y are known. Using typical
values of these parameters, the complex frequencies of
some of the lower modes of the system were calculated for
starting with u = 0. [For u = 0 the frequencies are those
of the normal modes of a vertical, heavy beam and are
dependent only on y ; these frequencies were calculated
separately (14).]The method of computation using a
digital computer is essentially as described by Paidoussis
(17). It was found that using 9 or 10 terms in the series
solution, equation (14), ensured accuracy of the calculated
frequencies generally to three significant figures.
Some of the computed complex frequencies, plotted as
. Argand diagrams, are shown in Figs 3-8. I n each figure
the diagram on the far left illuminates the behaviour of
the locus on the [Im(w)]-axis.
Hanging cantilevers
Figs 3-6 deal with hanging cantilevers with y = 100,
. . co (17) and progressively increasing values of j3. We note that, in
all cases, small flow velocities damp the system in all its
modes (Im(w) > 0) and result in a reduction of the
frequencies of oscillation, Re(w). At higher flows, the
locus of at least one of the modes crosses to the unstable
region (Im(w) < 0), where Re(w) # 0, signifying that
an oscillatory instability occurs in the mode concerned
just above the flow velocity corresponding to a point of
neutral stability. The lowest value of u at which this occurs
for each system will be referred to as the critical flow
velocity and denoted by u,; the corresponding frequency,
which is wholly real, will be denoted by w,.
We see that the system does not become unstable in the
same mode in all cases. Thus for j3 = 0.1 the system

1 IAV I

10 - -

-- -
*:
k J . 6
3
E
n
6

2
0 0 0

- -

<'o5 \,.s
I I I I I I 1 I I I I I A I
-10
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 " 70 80

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90 M. P. PAIDOUSSIS

I I I i i i i i )A i i
20 40 60 80 110 130 150
Re (01

Fig. 4. The dimensionlesscomplex frequency of the system as a function of the dimensionless flow velocity for
y = 100, /3 = 0.4

Re I01

Fig. 5. The dimensionless complex frequency of the system as a function of the dimensionless flow velocity f o r
y = 100, /3 = 0.58
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 DYNAMICS OF TUBULAR CANTILEVERS CONVEYING FLUID 91

I 1 I
I
20
1
40
1 1
60
Rc(m)i
1 1
80 "
A 1
110
1
130 150

Fig. 6 . The dimensionless complex frequency of the system as a function of the dimensionless $ow velocity for
y = lOO,/3 = 0.65

3.0
345
c

345

05 3.0

2.75

2.5

20

1.5

1.0

D.5

Fig. 7 . The dimensionless complex frequency of the system as a function of the

dimensionless flow velocity for y = -10, = 0.2
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92
I of buckling instability was unexpected and contrary to the
-10
0 2
I
4
1
Re (01
I
6 SJ-
Fig. 8. The dimensionless complex frequency of the system
as a function of the dimensionless flow velocity f o r
y = -50, j3 = 0.2
becomes unstable in its second mode, for j3 = 0.2 in its
third mode (Fig. 3), for ,B = 0.4 and 0.58 (Figs 4 and 5)
in its fourth mode, and for /3 = 0.65 (Fig. 6) in its first
mode. Here for consistent identification, we continue to
enumerate the modes in the same order as they were
originally enumerated on the [Re(w)]-axis for u = 0;
this, in spite of the fact that for u = 18 in Fig. 6, for
instance, Re(w) is larger on the first-mode locus than on
the loci of the second, third and fourth modes.
I n Fig. 3 we can see the evolution in shape of the second
mode with increasing /3. Evidently somewhere between
/3 = 0.1 and 0.2 the roles of the second and third modes,
in the higher flow range, are interchanged. Somewhere
between j3 = 0.2 and 0.4 the same thing happens between
the third and fourth modes (Figs 3 and 4). Fig. 4 is
particularly illuminating, as it shows the proximity of the
third- and forth-mode loci (at u = 13.765 625) which
seems to be characteristic of the switch-over from one
mode to another of the portion of the locus leading to
instability.
Fig. 5 is interesting because it shows an instance where,
with increasing flow, the system briefly regains stability
after it first becomes unstable, in its fourth mode. Also
shown is the crossing to instability of another mode, the
second, at higher flow (u z 21). This is not an isolated
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M. P. PAIDOUSSIS
case; in most cases, however, the computation was
pursued only up to u just above u, in all the lowest four
or five modes.
Fig. 6 exhibits a case where the order of nomenclature
of the modes becomes confused, as was mentioned earlier.
I n fact, if the only available complex frequencies were
those for u = 18, say, and the modes were enumerated
according to ascending values of Re(w), what we here call
the first-mode frequency would be called the ‘fourth’-
mode frequency; for u = 19, it would be called the
‘fifth’-mode frequency.
I n conclusion it may be said that hanging cantilevers
are subject to oscillatory instabilities at sufficiently high
flow velocities. Other complex frequency calculations (14)~
not shown here, with y = 10 and 50 confirm that t h s
phenomenon is not confined to a particular value of y.
Indeed, in this respect, the dynamical behaviour of the
system is similar to that of horizontal cantilevers (a),
where y = 0.
We further note that buckling instability does not occur
in any of the cases shown, as none of the loci cross from
positive to negative Im(w) on the [Im(w)]-axis itself.
A thorough study of this point has shown that buckling
of hanging cantilevers is not possible, at least for u 30.<
This study involved systematic searching for values of u
such that w = 0. None were found for y > 0. The absence
behaviour of systems with a finite number of degrees of
freedom (articulated pipes conveying fluid) as reported by
Benjamin ( 5 ) (8). This matter will be further discussed
later in this paper.
Standing cantilevers
In this case, where y < 0, the frequencies for u = 0
decrease with increasing I y / . For sufficiently low y, the
frequency of the first mode becomes zero, which corre-
sponds to the threshold for buckling of a standing canti-
lever under its own weight and that of the enclosed fluid.
For even lower values of y, the square of the frequency of
the first mode becomes negative, so that two wholly
imaginary conjugate frequencies arise. This situation is
depicted in Fig. 7 (j3 = 0.2, y = -10). At u = 0 we have
w = f l % i for the first mode. We observe that, with
increasing flow, the negative branch of the first-mode
locus eventually becomes positive; thus the system is
stabilized by flow, regaining stability at u > 1.79. At still
higher flow (u zz 4 ~ 8 6 )however,
~ the system becomes
unstable once again, the instability this time being an
oscillatory one.
At still lower values of y, the frequency of the second
mode for u = 0, begins to approach the origin also. This
is illustrated in Fig. 8 (j3 = 0.2, y = -50). We observe
that in this case also, with increasing flow, the negative
branch of the first mode moves towards the stable region;
however, the threshold of oscillatory instability occurs
while the system is still subject to buckling instability.
Thus for 1.65 < u < 1.73 approximately the system is
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‘I\ -7 1970
 DYNAMICS OF TUBULAR CANTILEVERS CONVEYING FLUID 93

subject to both buckling and oscillatory instabilities. Then,

at u z 1-73 the frequency of the second mode also
becomes wholly imaginary, and both the first and second
modes indicate buckling instability. At slightly higher
flow, curiously, the unstable branches of the first and
second mode merge, and the system becomes unstable by
oscillatory instability alone (for u > 1.75 approximately).
At still lower values of y, both the first and second mode
frequencies, for u = 0, lie on the imaginary axis. With
increasing flow, the system does not regain stability.

CONDITIONS OF STABILITY
The critical flow velocity for oscillatory instabilities, u,, is
a function of the parameters /3 and y. Here u, and the
corresponding dimensionless frequency, w,, are calculated
systematically, demonstrating the effect of /3 and y on
stability. The computational method involves systematic
searching for sets of u and wholly real w satisfying
equations (17). The calculations of the previous section
furnish such sets of u and Re(w), namely u, and w c , for
specific values of /3 and y. These are used as starting
values; then either /3 or y is varied in small steps and new
values of u, and w , are found with the aid of a digital
t I I 1 I I 1 I I
1
02 0.4 0.6 08 I.o
computer program. B
It is in the nature of the physical problem that, whereas a The dimensionless critical flow velocity for oscillatory instability.
0 < /3 < 1, in principle y may take any value. The calcu-
lations here were confined to y = 10, 100 and -10, and
extended from /3 = 0 to nearly /3 = 1. The conditions of
stability for y = 0 were calculated previously (6).
The computed values of u, and W, are shown in Fig. 9a
and b. The system is stable for values of u lying below the
curve with the appropriate value of y, and unstable above
it. About the ‘jumps’ (e.g. at /3 s 0.255, 0.6 and 0.8 for
y = lo), a better interpretation is that the system is stable
to the right of the curve and unstable to the left; this
becomes obvious upon realizing that these ‘jumps’
correspond to multiple points of neutral stability (cf.
Fig. 5), and that with increasing u the system becomes
unstable, then regains stability, and then once again
becomes unstable. It is stressed that Fig. 9a gives the
threshold for oscillatory instability alone; in cases where
y < 0, there may be ranges of u over which the system is
unstable by buckling (thus, in the case of y = -10, this
is the case for 0 < u < 1.8); this will be further discussed
later in this section.
It is evident from Fig. 9 that gravity does not funda-
mentally alter the dynamical behaviour of the system
inasmuch as oscillatory instability is concerned. As would
intuitively be expected, gravity, when acting to impose a
tensile force on the cantllever ( y > 0), has a stabilizing
effect on the system; in the opposite case ( y < 0),
gravity imposes a compressive load and has a destabilizing
effect.
What remains unexplained is the more or less abrupt
OO.
i 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

increase in the critical flow velocity around the ‘jumps’,

b The dimensionless critical frequency of oscillatory instability.
with increasing /3. Thus for y = 10, we have u, = 11.2
for = 0.63 and u, = 12.8 for /3 = 0.64. It is clear from Fig. 9
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94
‘ O r - -
U -
4-
- external damping may be considered to be a viscous effect
2-
- within the laminar regime.
O -Qo
-40 -20
Y
Fig. 10. Stability map f o r y < 0 showing the effect of
y on stability
Figs 3-6 that this behaviour is closely related to changes
in the mode in which the system becomes unstable, yet
this change does not actually coincide with the jump.
Thus, for y = 10, the system becomes unstable in its
second mode for both /3 = 0.2 and ,!I = 0.3, despite the
fact that the two cases are separated by a ‘jump’ at
,f3 z 0.255. Of course, in the last analysis, it is not the
modal number that is the important parameter associated
with instability, but the modal shape. This matter is
further discussed later.
We next consider the conditions of stability of standing
cantilevers, where, as we have seen, buckling instability is
also possible. Fig. 10 shows a stability map, applying to a
few values of ,!I, as a function of y. We see that for
y < -7.84 approximately the cantilever buckles under
its own weight; the effect of the flow, however, is to
stabilize the system. Thus for y = -10, the system
buckles with u = 0, but regains stability with flow at
u = 1.8. For higher flow velocities, however, it is subject
to oscillatory instabilities; thus, for y = - 10, it becomes
unstable at u = 3.25 if /3 = 0, or at u = 4.85 if /3 = 0.2,
etc. For y < -55.9 approximately the system buckles
under its own weight in both its first and second modes
and apparently remains unstable with increasing flow.
We note that the values y z -7.84 and -55.9 agree
well with those which can be obtained by exact analysis
(IS), corresponding to the first two zeros of
J-I/Z [+(-y)1’2] =0
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M. P. PAIDOUSSJS
where .I- is the Bessel function of the first kind and
13 ,
order -1/3, and y is understood to be negative so that
the argument is real. The first two zeros occur at
+ ( - Y ) ’ ! ~ = 1-87 and 4.99, yielding values of y within
+ per cent of those given above.
THE E F F E C T OF DISSIPATIVE F O R C E S
O N STABILITY
Representation of the dissipative forces
I n the course of lateral motions of the tube, dissipation of
energy will occur ( a ) by friction between the tube and the
surrounding fluid medium, and (b) by internal friction
within the material of the tube. I n what follows, for
brevity, these two forms of dissipation will be termed as
external and internal, respectively.
For small motions about the position of equilibrium,
and may be represented by a term k(iy/r‘t)in the equation
of motion. The amplitude of motion is assumed to be
sufficiently small, so that the lateral velocity and the
Reynolds number are sufficiently low for the flow to be
Internal dissipation, on the other hand, is assumed to
be entirely a hysteretic effect (hysteretic or ‘structural’
0 damping). For a beam subjected to a steady-state
harmonic motion of circular frequency Q, this effect may
/3 and be represented mathematically by writing the flexural
term E Z ( i 4 y / i x 4 )in the form
where p is the coefficient of hysteretic damping and is
independent of Q provided p Q 1 (19). If the motion is
described by y = Y(x)eiR1,the above term yields
EZ( 1+pi) (d4Y/dx4)eiRt
where E( 1+pi) is the familiar representation of hysteretic
damping by a complex Young’s modulus. This device
implies that when simple harmonic conditions obtain the
small stresses associated with hysteresis are in quadrature
with the principal, linear-elastic stresses. The above
representation will remain a reasonable approximation for
lightly damped oscillation [i.e. when Q = Re(Q)+Im(Q)i
and Im(Q) Q Re(Q)], such as the free motion of the beam
subject only to hysteretic damping and containing no
energy source to maintain oscillation. However, for the
general case of a non-conservative system where damping
may also arise from other sources (as in the system here
under consideration), misleading results may be obtained
when the overall damping is large. In the system under
consideration, the overall damping is small only when the
flow velocity is either small or is in the vicinity of a point
of neutral stability. Accordingly, the above representation
will give good estimates of the effect of hysteresis on
stability, but will not be reliable when it predicts heavy
damping overall. Moreover, it is evident that the above
representation is meaningful only in connection with
oscillatory instabilities.
Vol 12 hTo 2 1970
 DYNAMICS OF TUBULAR CANTILEVERS CONVEYING FLUID 95

The equation of small motions taking into account Table 2. Effect of external damping on stability ( y = IO)
dissipative terms may be written as
K 1 j3 = 0.2 j3 = 0.4 1 j3 = 0.6
~

I Values of u,
0 6.339 9.191 10.72
0.2 6.393 9.200 10.71
0.4 6.445 9.208 10.70
@y 0.6 6.496 9.216 10.69
+ ( M + m ) g = 0 (9a) 0.8 6.547 9.224 10.67
1.0 6.596 9.231 10.66
subject to the limitation that Im(Q) -g Re(Q).
Re-writing this in dimensionless terms and substituting
equation (14) into the resulting equation we obtain The destabilizing effect of dissipative forces is not
r)
entirely surprising. This effect was first discovered by
2 {[(I +pi)Xr4 +~~Z’-~‘1440+
[~”yI4r”(E) Ziegler ( 2 0 ) and is a feature of stability of non-conservative
r= 1 systems (21). I t has also been observed in the case of
+y&r”(5)+ [y+2/3”’~~i3d,’(E)}ar= 0 (154 horizontal cantilevers (7).
where K is the dimensionless viscous damping coefficient.
Subsequent analysis proceeds as before, leading to the T H E MECHANISM OF I N S T A B I L I T Y
equivalent of equations (17); the diagonal terms in the For oscillatory instability, the condition of neutral stability
resulting determinant will now contain terms involving is one of dynamic equilibrium where, in the course of one
p and K . cycle of oscillation, the energy transfer from fluid to
cantilever and vice versa exactly balance. When the former
exceeds the latter, as the fluid stream may be regarded as
The effect on stability an infinite energy source, the amplitude of the oscillation
The critical flow velocity u, was calculated extensively in increases without limit; in the opposite case the oscillation
the case of y = 10 while varying p from 0 to 0.1 in order decays.
to establish the effect of internal damping on stability. Benjamin (5) studied the mechanism of energy transfer
Some of the results obtained are shown in Table 1. in the related problem of an articulated pipe system
We observe that, for the range of p investigated, internal conveying fluid. He found that over a time 0 to tl in
damping uniformly stabilizes the system for /? = 0.2, and which the motion concludes with the system in its original
uniformly destabilizes the system for /3 = 0.6. For state, the energy gained by the pipes is
/3 = 0.4, we observe that very small damping stabilizes the
system, while higher damping destabilizes it. The corre- dW=- j“MU@?+ U7.R)dt
(18)
sponding frequencies are not presented, as they do not where T and R are the tangential and position vectors at
exhibit any unusual features ;as expected, with increasing the end of the last pipe.
dissipation the frequency becomes smaller in all cases. This may be extended to the case of a continuously
Similar calculations were conducted to assess the effect flexible pipe by re-interpretation of the vectors T and R,
of (external) viscous damping on stability. Some of the yielding
results obtained for y = 10 are shown in Table 2. It may d W = - / “ M U ( y z + U y ~ ) I ~ d t . (19)
be seen that for /3 = 0.2 viscous damping has a stabilizing
effect on the system. With increasing /3, the stabilizing The same result may be obtained by considering the work
effect becomes weaker, and for /? = 0.6 viscous damping done on the tube, in the course of small periodic motions,
actually destabilizes the system. by the hydrodynamic forces
dW = - [ g { M ( i + U
- $)>}
dx . (20)
Table 1. Effect of internal damping on stability (y = 10) dt
we recognize that the work done over a period of oscilla-
j3 = 0.2 j3 = 0.4 j3 = 0.6 tion t l by the flexural and gravity forces is zero, as these
forces are conservative. After some manipulation, equation
~~ ~
(19) may be derived from equation (20).
0 6.339 9.191 10.72 We note that since y ( 0 , t ) = 0, equation (19) may be
0.01 6.372 9.196 10.70 written as
0.02 6.402 9.198 10.67
0.03 6.431 9.197 10.65 dW = -MUj: [y’+ Ujy’ILdt . (21)
0.04 6.458 9.194 10.62
0.05 6.484 9.189 10.60 We immediately see that if the downstream end were also
0.06 6308 9.181 10.57
supported such that y(L, t ) = 0, then d W = 0 always;
so that, in the course of oscillatory motion, the tube could
neither extract energy from the fluid nor supply energy
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96
to it. This succinctly shows that for tubular beams convey-
ing fluid oscillatory instabilities are not possible if both
ends are supported, the system being conservative. For
cantilevers, however, d W # 0 generally. If the flow is
small, the integrand is always positive and AW < 0; the
energy gained by the cantilever is negative, i.e. the
cantilever must expend energy, and the motion will be
damped. On the other hand, if U is sufficiently large and
[ ~ j y 'is] negative
~ over most part of the period of oscillation,
then d W may be positive; the cantilever then gains energy,
and the motion will be amplified, i.e. the system will then
be
-
subject to oscillatory instability. T h e requirement that
[yy'IL< 0 means that the slope Y ' ~must , have opposite
sign to the direction of motion over most of the period,
i.e. a sort of dragging motion must obtain, similar to that
of the end of a flexible baton waved in very viscous fluid.
This was confirmed to be the case in the experiments
presented in Part 2 of this paper.
Thus we see that the modal shapes of the system are
all-important in determining the conditions for onset of
instability. These modal shapes are dependent on the
parameters B and 7, and this helps explain why the system
does not always become unstable in the same mode in all
cases.
We next consider buckling instabilities. T h e mechanism
underlying buckling instability may be illuminated by
considering the static equilibrium of a hanging cantilever,
which is assumed to have momentarily taken the arbitrary
shape y(x). Elimination of the time-dependent terms from
equation (8) yields
EZy" +M U "y -( M +VZ)g[( L-x)Y']' = 0
" (22)
In the absence of gravity forces, this reduces to Pfliiger's
problem of a cantilever subjected to a follower load (22),
i.e. a load remaining tangential to the free end; the
magnitude of the compressive load in this case is M U 2 ,
(In fact, the problem here under consideration differs from
Part 2: Experiments
INTRODUCTION
The aim of the experiments presented in Part 2 was to
provide sufficient data to check the theoretical findings of
Part 1, concerning the general behaviour and conditions
of stability of vertical tubular cantilevers conveying fluid.
We consider uniform tubular cantilevers of length L,
flexural rigidity EI and mass m per unit length, conveying
fluid of mass M per unit length and mean flow velocity U .
The fluid discharges to atmosphere at the free end of the
cantilever, which is vertical in its undisturbed state. T h e
free end is either below the clamped one (hanging canti-
lever), or above it (standing cantilever).
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M. P. PAIDOUSSIS
Pfliiger's problem only by the presence of gravity and
Coriolis forces.) It is evident that for sufficiently high flow
velocities the forces proportional to M U 2 in equation (22)
might conceivably balance the flexural and gravity
restoring forces, thereby establishing the existence of an
equilibrium shape alternative to the straight one; i.e.
indicating the possibility of buckling instability in the
Eulerian sense. As we know, this does not occur here, in
the same way that it does not occur for horizontal canti-
levers, nor in Pfliiger's problem. In fact, it would have
been surprising if buckling did occur.
T h e surprising aspect of the absence of buckling of
hanging cantilevers is in the paradox that it can occur in
the case of vertical articulated pipes ( 5 ) (8), which may be
regarded as lumped-parameter approximations to the
cantilever. This aspect of the problem is currently under
investigation. Suffice it to say here that Benjamin's ((s),
pp. 473-4) argument on the existence of buckling in the
case of pipe systems where gravity, as well as flexural,
forces are operative should be interpreted as follows:
the existence of gravity forces makes it possible, but not
necessary, for buckling to occur; on the other hand, the
absence of gravity forces makes buckling impossible. Thus,
although it can be shown that buckling cannot occur in
some special cases, there is no simple general criterion to
decide whether buckling can occur.
We next consider the case of standing cantilevers.
Buckling of cantilevers under their own weight has
already been analysed by Pfliiger (23). T h e interesting
aspect of the findings of this paper is that there is a range
of flow velocities in some cases where the cantilever may
be stable. I t may be concluded that in all cases the effect
of flow is to inhibit buckling instability in favour of
oscillatory instability.
Some further discussion on the work presented here is
included in Part 2, where the experimental work in
support of this theoretical investigation is presented.
It was found in Part 1 that the dynamics of the system
depend on three dimensionless parameters
/3 = M / ( M + m ) , y = f ( M + m ) g L 3 / E I and
u = (M/EZ)''" U L
where g is the acceleration due to gravity. As defined in
Part 1, y is positive for hanging cantilevers and negative
for standing cantilevers.
It was found that hanging cantilevers are subject to
oscillatory instability if the flow velocity exceeds a certain
value. This flow velocity was called the critical flow
velocity and is denoted by U,; the corresponding circular
Vol 12 h'o 2 1970
 DYNAMICS OF TUBULAR CANTILEVERS CONVEYING FLUID
frequency of oscillation is denoted by Q,. The correspond-
ing dimensionless quantities are
u, = (LV~/EZ)~‘~ U,L and w , = [(M+rn)/EZ11’2Q,L2
It was also found that in the case of hanging cantilevers
buckling instability does not occur. Standing cantilevers,
on the other hand, may buckle under their own weight.
I t was found that in some cases flow may stabilize standing
cantilevers, so that over a flow range a cantilever is stable,
whereas it would buckle in the absence of flow. For
sufficiently high flow velocities, however, standing canti-
levers also are subject to oscillatory instability.
Detailed information on the experiments may be found
in reference (14).
APPARATUS
Most experiments were conducted with tubular canti-
levers hanging vertically, but some experiments were also
conducted with standing vertical cantilevers. The con-
veyed fluid was either water or air. Experiments with
standing cantilevers were conducted only with air,
because of the obvious difficulties in preventing discharg-
ing water from showering down upon the Cantilever and
disturbing it.
Rubber tubes were used as the tubular cantilevers in all
the experiments, for convenience, as the relatively high
flexural rigidity of metal tubes necessitates impracticably
large flow velocities for inducing instability. The rubber
tubes were specially cast using catalysed, liquid silicon
rubber (‘Silastic’), so that their straightness would be
ensured; commercially available rubber tubing is quite
unsuitable in this respect. Two grades of silastic were used,
A and B; the significant difference between them will be
discussed later. All th& tubes cast were 0.61 in outside
diameter; the inside diameter varied from 0.25 in to
0.50 in.
One end of the rubber tube (tubular cantilever) was
fitted on to a suitable tubular adaptor. This adaptor
screwed on to the pipe supplying air or water, and the pipe
itself was securely attached to a heavy support, so that the
whole structure supporting the rubber tube was quite
rigid. Flow straighteners were used upstream of the
rubber tube.
Two different rigs were used for experiments with air
and water, respectively. For experiments with air the flow
rate was measured by a flow meter upstream of the
cantilever and the air discharged to atmosphere. I n the
apparatus for experiments with water, the water discharg-
ing from the free end of the cantilever was collected in a
tank resting on weighing scales.
MEASUREMENTS
Experimental determination of the dimensionless critical
flow velocity, u,, the corresponding dimensionless
frequency, w C , and of the parameters fl and y involves
measurements of the masses per unit length of the tube
and the conveyed fluid, the length of the tube, its flexural
rigidity, and the critical flow velocity U , and the corre-
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97
sponding frequency Q,. Most of these quantities were
measured by simple means not calling for comment, but
some remarks on the measurement of the flexural rigidity
and of the flow velocity are in order.
The flexural rigidity was determined from measure-
ments of the fundamental frequency of free flexural
oscillation of the empty cantilever hanging vertically. The
measurement of the frequency was accomplished using
fibre optics, by training a photonic sensor on the cantilever
at a point near its supported end. The output from the
photonic sensor was amplified and the decaying sinusoidal
wave form was recorded by an oscillograph. Both the
frequency and the logarithmic decrement were thus
obtainable from the oscillograms.
The value of EZ was then found from knowledge of the
fundamental dimensionless frequency of the vertical
cantilever as a function of y, which was calculated to
provide the starting points (u = 0) for the first-mode
complex frequency locus (Part 1 and reference (14)).For
the purpose of determining EZ,tables were constructed of
w 2 / y versus y . Now, as in dimensional terms w 2 / y = Q2L/g,
from knowledge of Q and L we can determine w 2 / y , and
hence y by interpolation from the tables. Then EZ may be
determined from the defining equation for y.
The flow velocity was determined by simple volumetric
or gravimetric flow measurements as indicated in the
description of apparatus. I n each case the flow velocity
was taken as the average velocity, effectively by dividing
the volumetric flow rate by the internal cross-sectional
area of the tube. For turbulent pipe flow in the range of
Reynolds number pertinent to the experiments, this
approximation is reasonable (cf. (7), p. 531).
During each test the flow velocity was increased in
small steps, sufficient time being allowed at each step for
possible spontaneous development of instability. When
this occurred, measurements of U , and Q, were made.
GENERAL O B S E R V A T I O N S
We first consider the experiments with hanging cantilevers.
The general behaviour of the system was assessed by
giving the cantilever a small push and observing the
ensuing motion. This was done with progressively increas-
ing flow. The following observations were made: (a) at
small flow velocities, flow damped free oscillation of the
system, the rate of decay of oscillations being proportional
to the flow velocity; (b) at higher flow velocities the motion
became overdamped and the system returned to its position
of rest without oscillation; (c) at yet hgher flow velocities,
oscillation ensued once more, increasing flow now decreas-
ing the rate of decay of oscillations; (d) at a sufficiently
high flow velocity, the overall damping evidently vanished
entirely, and the small push given the cantilever precipi-
tated oscillation with increasing amplitude, up to a
maximum amplitude of several cantilever diameters, where
a steady-state oscillation was established. If this flow
velocity was slightly exceeded, without giving the canti-
lever a small push, amplified oscillation occurred spon-
taneously without inducement from outside disturbances.
Vol 12 No 2 1970
98 M. P. PAIDOUSSIS
The shape of the cantilever while subject to steady-state
amplified oscillation was similar to that of a flexible baton
waved in viscous fluid, with the free end lagging and
sloping backwards to the direction of motion.
Clearly, the above observations are in accordance with
the theoretical findings of Part 1. However, one observa-
tion, that instability may be induced at a flow velocity
lower than that necessary for the spontaneous development
of instability, indicates that the system is to a certain extent
non-linear. It should also be noted that, according to
linear theory, once instability has developed, the amplitude
should increase without limit; of course, once the ampli-
tude becomes large, non-linear forces come into play, and
in this case evidently their net effect is to limit the
amplitude, thereby establishing a limit-cycle.
Before the occurrence of the oscillatory instability
described above, in some cases, small movements of the
cantilever away from its vertical position of rest were
observed with increasing flow. These movements devel-
oped gradually with flow and never exceeded t in; they
could be made to vanish by suitable, slight circumferential
adjustments of the tubular cantilever at its upstream
support. Clearly, these could not be construed to be a
buckling instability. They must be interpreted as ‘local-
ized’ buckling resulting from small non-uniformities in
the cantilever, or due to release of strains imposed by
imperfect circumferential support at the clamped end.
Similar occurrences of localized buckling were observed in
experiments with horizontal cantilevers, and by Benjamin
(8) in his experiments with articulated pipes.
It is of interest that if the tubular cantilever is initially
(i.e. a t zero flow) not substantially straight, flow can
produce large lateral movements which are much larger
than the initial departures from straightness. This can be
observed by conducting an experiment using as the
cantilever a piece of commercial rubber tubing, which
normally has a set bow in it (due to coiling during manu-
facture). Flow exaggerates the original bow, the shape of
the tube continually changing with increasing flow
velocity. Clearly, this could be misinterpreted as buckling
of a straight tube. Equally clearly, the stability of curved
tubular cantilevers is beyond the scope of this paper.
We next consider the experiments with standing
cantilevers. The dynamical behaviour of the system was
of three distinct types, which for ease of description will
be categorized as applying to long, intermediate and short
cantilevers.
Long cantilevers buckled under their own weight at
zero flow velocity. The dynamical behaviour of the system
was assessed by supporting the cantilever by hand in its
unflexed shape, while the flow was incremented, and then
releasing it. Long cantilevers were unstable at all flow
velocities. At low flows a long cantilever continued to be
unstable by buckling; at higher flow velocities, oscillations
were superposed on buckling, resulting in an erratic,
thrashing motion.
Short cantilevers, on the other hand, did not buckle
under their own weight at zero flow. Their behaviour with
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increasing flow was essentially as for hanging cantilevers ;
the system remained stable with increasing flow until, at a
sufficiently high flow velocity, an oscillatory instability
developed spontaneously.
Cantilevers of intermediate length, while unstable by
buckling at zero and small flow velocities, were stable at a
higher flow range. Thus, if the cantilever was supported
and the flow increased to a certain point, upon release the
cantilever retained its straight, undeformed shape. Further
increase of flow, nevertheless, eventually resulted in the
development of oscillatory instability.
Clearly these observations agree with the theoretically
predicted behaviour of standing cantilevers, if one
interprets increasing length as increasing negative y.
QUANTITATIVE COMPARISON WITH THEORY
The value of ,5 for a particular cantilever conveying a
particular fluid is fixed. The general procedure for each
rubber tube cast was first to conduct tests with the whole
tube as the cantilever, generally 19 in long, then to cut
N
off a small piece from the tube and conduct another test
with the shortened cantilever; this was repeated down to
lengths of 14 to 9 in. By this procedure, the conditions of
stability were obtained for fixed values of ,5 and varying
values of y.
Hanging cantilevers
The experimental points obtained of the dimensionless
critical flow velocity and frequency, from experiments
using water, are compared with theory in Figs 11-13.
The solid lines represent the theoretical calculations in
which dissipation was assumed to be zero. The dashed
lines correspond to theoretical calculations with internal
dissipation in the material of the tube taken into account,
in the manner discussed below. Whenever a dashed line
does not appear, this signifies essential coincidence with
the solid line.
The damping was taken to be entirely due to internal
dissipation in the material of the tube, external damping
due to air resistance being assumed to be insignificant in
comparison. This is a reasonable assumption for a material
such as rubber, where internal dissipation is fairly large as
compared to metals. Moreover, internal damping was
assumed to be due to hysteresis, which has been shown to
be a reasonable representation for certain types of rubber
(cf. (24) (25)) in the range of frequencies and temperatures
pertinent to these experiments.
Now, as was mentioned previously, the oscillograms
obtained for determining EZ also yield measurements of
the logarithmic decrement, 6. Then, in principle, the
coefficient of hysteretic damping, p, can be obtained by
the relation p = S / T , provided p2 4 1 (19) and y +-0.
It was found that the measured values of p for tubes of
type A Silastic were essentially constant and independent
of frequency; this was not the case for tubes of type B
Silastic, however, where the measured values of p were
found to increase significantly with frequency. It is clear,
Val 12 No 2 1970
 DYNAMICS OF TUBULAR CANTILEVERS CONVEYING FLUID 99

8 I I I 20 I I I 1
p=o.Ao (6) p =0.130

"0 5 10 15 - 20 25

510 20 30 40 50 60 1410 20 30 40 50 60

Y Y
Theory (internal damping neglected).
-- - Theory (internal damping taken into account).
o Experiment.

Fig. 11. Comparison between theoretical and experimental values of the dimensionless
critical flow velocity and the corresponding frequency

12

10
UC

6 u
) 20 30 40 50 60 "10
u 20 30 40 50 60

40 I I
p=obo9 I

uc;;
u, 10

-
1
'0 15 20 25 30 35 2010 15 20 25 30 35

40 I I I I

'
1
0 15 20 25 30 35 2010 , 15 25 30 35
2o Y

Theory (internal damping neglected).

- - - Theory (internal damping taken into account).
o Experiment.

Fig. 12. Comparison between theoretical and experimental values of the dimensionless
critical $ow velocity and the corresponding frequency
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100 M. P. PAIDOUSSIS

70

0
'
t
,,,
,,,
,
20
,,
l 40 60 80 100

C,
Theory (internal damping neglected).
"0

- - - Theory (internal damping taken into account).

Experiment.
- 20

Fig. 13. Comparison between theoretical and experimental values of the dimensionless
critical flow velocity and the corresponding frequency
40 60 80 100

therefore, that, whereas for type A Silastic the hysteretic
damping representation is a reasonable one, for type B
Silastic a more elaborate viscoelastic representation of the
dissipative process should be employed. Nevertheless, for
the purpose of this analysis, the hysteretic approximation
was retained for both types of material. An average value
of p was obtained for each type of material, namely
p = 0.02 for type A Silastic and p = 0.10 for type B.
We now return to Figs 11-13 and note that for each tube
(i.e. each value of /3), the material is indicated in the figure,
whether type A or type B. Depending on the material, the
theoretical calculations were made using either p = 0.02
or p = 0.10.
The first observation that may be made is that agree-
ment between theory and experiment is much better in the
case of cantilevers of type A Silastic than those of type B.
I n fact, in the case of /3 = 0.309 and 0.435 agreement is
rather poor and becomes worse when (hysteretic) damping
is taken into account. This is not too surprising, however,
in view of the discussion above. Nevertheless, agreement
between theory and experiment in the case of /3 = 0.130
and 0.208, both of type B Silastic, is quite good. Agreement
for cantilevers of type A Silastic may be said to be good in
all cases.
It is interesting that in some cases the measurements
provide indirect experimental support to the theoretical
JOURNAL MECHANICAL ENGINEERING SCIENCE
prediction that damping may destabilize the system (e.g.
for /3 = 0.241, y z 16 and for /3 = 0.645, y z 8.6).
In assessing agreement between theory and experiment
much greater weight is placed on the critical flow velocity
than on the critical frequency, as the latter is measured
after the limit-cycle has been established, when non-linear
forces not taken into account in the theory have already
come into play. Accordingly, the fact that taking into
account dissipation seems to worsen agreement in the
frequency between theory and experiment, in nearly all
cases, cannot be interpreted as a weakness of the theory;
rather, it should be viewed as being symptomatic of the
limitations in the experimental procedure.
We next consider the experiments conducted with air
as the conveyed fluid. Only two such tests were conducted.
Comparison with theory is made in Table 3.
Once again we observe that agreement between experi-
ment and theory is quite good.
Standing cantilevers
Experiments were conducted with progressively shorter
lengths of one tube. The obtained results are shown in
Fig. 14. (Measurements with y < -22.8 were not feasible,
as the system then remained unstable at all flows; the
transition from instability by buckling to instability
involving both buckling and oscillations proved to be very
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 DYNAMICS OF TUBULAR CANTILEVERS CONVEYING FLUID 101

Table 3. Comparison of experimental results with theory for of interesting phenomena not previously known. The
hanging cantilevers conveying air experiments confirmed all essential features of the

x 10
3I j y ~

theory Values ofu, 1 Values o f w ,

-
dynamical problem as predicted by theory. Quantitative
agreement between the theoretical and experimental limits
of stability was found to be adequate.
I n connection with the last point it is noted that, in the
0.23 61.1
2.03 42.4
~ j
6.15
5.62 ~
6.33
6.05 1 6.33
5.79 ~
21.3
19.5 1 1 18.0
19.5
19.7
18.1
majority of cases, the measured critical flow velocities are
higher than the theoretical ones. One reason for t h s could
be the non-linearity of the real system, manifested by the
observation that the onset of instability is somewhat
difficult to pin-point.) The theoretical values for oscillatory dependent on the magnitude of disturbances acting on the
instability were calculated with a hysteretic damping system. Another reason is that in the experiments, the
coefficient p = 0.02. It is noted that the theoretical values shape of the tubular cantilever becomes deformed with
of u, shown in Fig. 14 (p = 1.1x p = 0.02) differ flow, albeit slightly, from truly cylindrical to essentially a
widely from those shown in Fig. 10 (fl = p = 0). truncated cone. This becomes evident upon considering
It is seen that agreement between experiment and that there is a certain amount of circumferential enlarge-
theory is quite good, particularly in the case of the ment of the tube due to the internal pressure, being a
dimensionless flow velocities, where in most cases the maximum at the upstream end and essentially zero at the
discrepancy is < 5 per cent, which is within the margin downstream end. Although this is small, its effect on the
of experimental error. flow velocity and on the effective flexural rigidity is of
the same order of magnitude (in the right direction) as the
CONCLUSION discrepancy between theoretical and experimental values
The general theory presented in Part 1 and the supporting of the dimensionless critical flow velocities. Taking this
experiments presented in Part 2 have revealed a number fully into account, however, would involve the analysis of
non-uniform tubular cantilevers, which is beyond the
5 scope of this paper.
I I I 1 I
1 The impetus for this study was partly provided by
Benjamin’s findings in connection with the dynamical
behaviour of articulated pipes conveying fluid. Benjamin
found that buckling is sometimes possible in cases of
vertically hanging articulated ‘cantilevers’ conveying
water; yet buckling does not occur if the conveyed fluid is
air, the only form of instability possible in this case being
oscillatory. One of the original aims of this study was to
clarify this intriguing phenomenon, having implicitly
presumed that the articulated system studied by Benjamin
and the continuously flexible system here under considera-
tion would exhibit essentially similar dynamical behaviour.
Instead, it was found that buckling instability is not
possible at all in the case of continuous (hanging) canti-
levers, only oscillatory instability being possible.
The above finding is surprising, as the articulated
systems studied by Benjamin may be regarded as lumped-
’F-----7 parameter approximations of the continuous system. This,
however, requires further definition, as the articulated
system may or may not be an approximation to a uniform
continuous cantilever. This matter is discussed further in
Appendix 1 where a two-degree-of-freedom approxima-
tion to a uniform continuous cantilever conveying fluid is
examined from the point of view of existence of buckling
instability; it is found that buckling is in fact possible in
0
-30 -20 -10 0
this case. Clearly, therefore, the paradox is a real one and
Y is currently being investigated further. One important
-
o
Theory.
Experiment.
implication of this is that finite-degree-of-freedom
approximations of continuous systems, in certain cases,
Fig. 14. Comparison between theoretical and experimental may exhibit radically different dynamical behaviour to the
thresholds for cessation of buckling and onset of oscil- continuous systems they represent.
latory instability (/3 = 1.1 x 10- ’) Another important finding of this work is that standing
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 102 M. P. P A I D O U S S I S

cantilevers, buckling under their own weight in the obtained by dividing the cantilever into two sections and
absence of flow, may in some cases regain stability by the lumping the flexural rigidity into discrete ‘springs’ at the
action of flow, within a certain range of flow velocities mid-point of each.
(provided l y ( is not too large); in such cases, if the flow We next consider small lateral motions of the articulated
velocity is below this range, the cantilever buckles, while system. We can use Benjamin’s ((s), p. 476) equations
if it is above it, the cantilever becomes unstable by oscil-
( M + m ) {(fa3+a2b)8‘++ab2+}+ M U{a28+2ab&
latory instability. This post-buckling stabilization may
have practical application; however, the possibilities in - a U(0 -+)} +
kO+ k( 0-4) ++(M+m)g(a2 2ab)8 = 0 +
this respect have not yet been explored. +
( M m) {fab28’+3b34}+ M Ub2+ k(+- 0) +
Finally, it is noted that, whereas the theory and experi- ++(M+m)gb24 = 0
ments dealt with vertical cantilevers, the results obtained
will also apply if the position of rest of the cantilever and where a = L / 2 and b = L/4, all other quantities not
its motion take place in a plane inclined to the vertical by defined here having the same meaning as before. These
an angle 0; in such cases the only adjustment that need be equations have been checked and found to be correct.
made is in using an effective value of y defined by We next consider the existence of buckling instability
in the normal (Eulerian) manner. Accordingly, we discard
y = [(M+m)/EZ]L3gcos 0 all time derivatives, and substituting for a and 6, we obtain
-~MU2L(0-+)+2kO-k++~(M+m)gL20 = 0
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance given -k0+k4+&M+m)gL2+ =0
him with some aspects of the computational task of Part 1 For non-trivial solution, the determinant of the coefficients
by his student Mr P. E. des Trois Maisons, and also the of 0 and 4 must vanish, yielding
assistance given him with some of the experiments of 64
Part 2 by his student Mr E. B. Deksnis. u*’ = -$y*+20+- . . . (23)
This work was supported by the National Research Y*
Council (Grant No. A-4366) whose assistance is hereby where the following dimensionless quantities have been
thankfully acknowledged. introduced :
= M U 2 L / k , y* = (M+m)gL2/k
APPENDIX 1
It is clear from equation (23) that for each y* > 0 there
BUCKLING OF A TWO-DEGREE-OF-FREEDOM exists a flow velocity for which buckling instability will
APPROXIMATION TO A VERTICAL CANTILEVER be possible. Of course this does not necessarily mean that
CONVEYING FLUID the system actually loses stability by buckling, as an
We consider the articulated pipe system shown diagram- oscillatory instability may occur at a lower value of u*.
atically in Fig. 15. All the rigid tubes are of the same cross- This last point will be clarified by complex frequency
sectional dimensions and material, and the flexible con- calculations currently under way.
nections have the same spring constant, k. We recognize
that, as the uppermost rigid pipe cannot move, this is a
two-degree-of-freedom representation of a cantilever, APPENDIX 2
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