Vibration and Stability of Helical Pipes Conveying Fluid

This paper presents an accurate finite element procedure for the vibration and stability analysis of helical pipe conveying fluid. The kinematics of the helical pipe are derived including the effects of arbitrary curvatures and torsions in a nonorthogonal helical coordinate system. The equations of motion are derived from the Hamilton’s principle for mass transport system and the shear deformation and rotary inertia are also considered. The 3-node space-curved isoparametric element is used. The natural frequencies, mode shapes and critical flow velocities of buckling are studied for different end conditions. The significant influence of torsion effects on the calculation of natural frequencies and critical flow velocities is found. To demonstrate the validity and accuracy of the techniques developed, several numerical examples are illustrated.