Piping systems used to transport fluids such as water, fuel oil, and steam in various industrial fields are subjected to excitation from multiple sources, including pump induced pressure pulsations, internal fluid induced loads, and vibrations transmi...
Piping systems used to transport fluids such as water, fuel oil, and steam in various industrial fields are subjected to excitation from multiple sources, including pump induced pressure pulsations, internal fluid induced loads, and vibrations transmitted from supporting structures. If fluid transport piping systems are damaged by excessive vibation, the resulting system shutdown can lead to significant economic losses as well as potential safety hazards. In recent years, increasing demands for higher system performance and efficiency have led to higher operating speeds of pressurization devices, accompanied by increased fluid transport velocities, thereby amplifying the relative contribution of flow-induced noise. In particular, acoustic pressure components in the high frequency range have been reported to excite circumferential shell modes of piping structures, causing stress concentration and fatigue damage at geometric discontinuities such as welds and pipe joints. Therefore, to ensure the economical and safe design and operation of piping systems, it is essential to accurately predict and analyze fluid-induced excitation forces.
In the present study, numerical methodologies suitable for internal pipe flow analysis were first examined. Based on the selected numerical approach, the wall pressure excitation forces obtained from the CFD analysis were validated by comparing them with experimental measurements, while the predicted acoustic mode frequencies were compared with theoretical values. In addition, a wavenumber-frequency analysis was performed on the wall pressure excitation forces, and the hydrodynamic and acoustic pressure components were decomposed based on the dispersion relation. The propagation characteristics of each pressure component were further analyzed. Finally, the extracted wall pressure excitation forces were applied to a one-way fluid-structure interaction (FSI) analysis to evaluate the radiated sound pressure over the entire piping system and to assess the contribution of each decomposed pressure component to the radiated noise.
The circumferential acoustic modes generated by the internal flow were found to excite the high frequency circumferential structural modes of the pipe, resulting in the dominance of radiated sound pressure induced by acoustic pressure components in the high frequency range above approximately 4 kHz. In contrast, the hydrodynamic pressure components formed by vortical structures generated at the noise source were dominant in the lower frequency range below approximately 4 kHz, thereby
exerting a major influence on radiated noise in the relatively low frequency region.
The results of this study indicate that the formation of radiated noise is governed not only by the propagation characteristics of the pressure components but also by fluid-structure interaction behavior. Accordingly, to more clearly evaluate the characteristics of radiated noise, it is necessary to separate the hydrodynamic and acoustic pressure components and analyze their respective contributions to noise generation. In this regard, the present study provides a effective approach for assessing the contribution mechanisms of radiated noise in piping systems.