Abstract
From the viewpoint of the structural design, the principal problem of the heat exchanger is the potentiality of structural instabilities due to the fluid loading effect during operations. Excessive fluid loading may give rise to permanent deformation of tube and would enentually result in collapse of heat exchanger, which would cause an obstruction of the fluid flow in the narrow channels. In this study, a fluid-structural interaction model was developed to investigate analtically the vibration characteristics of thin rectangular tube used in the heat exchanger. The model consists of two flat plates separated by fluid. The effects of the fluid in the tube was stuided. For analyses, the natural frequency coefficients of the model were investigated for the plate aspect ratios, channel heights, and boundary conditions. As conclusions, the natural frequency coefficients of the tube is found to be affected largely by the fluid loading and the channel heights.