Modeling of fluid-induced vibrations and identification of hydrodynamic forces on flow control valves

Dynamics and vibration of control valves under flow-induced vibration are analyzed. Hydrodynamic load characteristics and structural response under flow-induced vibration are mainly influenced by inertia, damping, elastic, geometric characteristics and hydraulic parameters. The purpose of this work is to investigate the dynamic behavior of control valves in the response to self-excited fluid flow. An analytical and numerical method is developed to simulate the dynamic and vibrational behavior of sliding dam valves, in response to flow excitation. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed model, the simulation results are validated with experimental ones. Finally, to achieve the optimal valve geometry, numerical results for various shapes of valves are compared. Rounded valve with the least amount of flow turbulence obtains lower fluctuations and vibration amplitude compared with the flat and steep valves. Simulation results demonstrate that with the optimal design requirements of valves, vibration amplitude can be reduced by an average to 30%.