Stability boundaries for fluid-conveying pipes with flexible support under axial load (Q1344151)

The influence of fluid velocity and axial load on the instability of a pipe is investigated. The downstream end of the pipe is free, and the upstream end is pinned with a rotational spring. For an infinite spring stiffness, the system reduces to a cantilevered pipe. Flutter or divergence instability may occur, depending on the combination of velocity and load. Results are obtained by direct numerical solution of the governing equations. An approximate procedure based on a variational principle is also presented.