Modelling turbulence-induced vibration of pipes with a spectral finite element method

The vibration of pipes is studied here using the Arnold–Warburton theory for thin shells and a simplified theory valid in a lower frequency regime. The vibrational response is described numerically with the spectral finite element method (SFEM), which uses the exact solutions of the equations of motion as basis functions. For turbulence excitation, the set of basis functions was extended to include particular solutions, which model a spatially distributed excitation. An efficient numerical solution to homogeneous random excitation is presented and the results compare favourably with wind tunnel measurements.