Influence of Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow on Flow-Induced Vibration of Cylindrical Heat Exchange Tubes in Wind Turbine Heat Exchangers
Tianyu Song1, Zeshuai Chen2, Qian Chen2, Ruiliang Wang2,*, Congbo Zheng1, Di Tang1, Wenxi Shi3, Lang Xu3
1 College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
2 Windey Energy Technology Group Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Offshore Wind Power Technology, Hangzhou, China
3 Hangzhou Turbine Power Group Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, China
* Corresponding Author: Ruiliang Wang. Email: 
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Fast Modelling of Fluid-Structure Interaction Based on Computations and Experiments)
Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences https://doi.org/10.32604/cmes.2026.086398
Received 29 May 2026; Accepted 10 August 2026; Published online 22 September 2026
Abstract
With the continuous increase in wind turbine capacity, the heat dissipation demands of key components such as converters and generators have become increasingly stringent. As a critical part of wind turbine thermal management systems, the reliability of heat exchangers is closely related to overall system stability. In this study, an efficient CFD–CSD coupling framework combined with a gas–liquid two-phase model was employed to establish a reduced-dimensional modeling approach for investigating the flow-induced vibration of cylindrical heat exchange tubes under cross-flow conditions. The proposed modeling strategy reduces computational complexity while retaining the dominant fluid–structure interaction characteristics, enabling efficient evaluation of vibration responses under different gas–liquid flow conditions. The coupled effects of gas–liquid phase evolution, hydrodynamic loading, flow structures, and structural response were analyzed. The results show that the tube exhibits periodic vibration in both drag and lift directions, while gas–liquid interaction leads to more complex flow structures and modifies the vibration behavior. With increasing void fraction, the drag-direction response decreases, whereas the lift-direction response shows a different variation trend. A transition from dispersed bubble structures to slug-like flow patterns was also observed with increasing gas content. The present study provides insight into the mechanism of gas–liquid two-phase flow-induced vibration and offers an efficient modeling approach for evaluation of heat exchanger vibration characteristics in wind turbine applications.
Keywords
Gas-liquid two-phase flow; flow-induced vibration; CFD-CSD coupling; wind turbine heat exchanger; cylindrical heat exchange tube; structural stability
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