CHIN. PHYS. LETT. Vol. 27, No.

11 (2010) 114301

Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Flexural Wave Propagating in a

Periodic Pipe with Fluid-Filled Loading *
WEN Ji-Hong()** , SHEN Hui-Jie(), YU Dian-Long(), WEN Xi-Sen()
Institute of Mechatronical Engineering, and Key Lab of Photonic and Phononic Crystals (MOE), National University
of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073

(Received 12 July 2010)

Based on the Bragg scattering mechanism of phononic crystals (PCs), a periodic composite material pipe with
fluid loading is designed and studied. The band structure of the flexural wave in the periodic pipe is calculated
with the transfer matrix (TM) method. A periodic piping experimental system is designed, and the vibration
experiment is performed to validate the attenuation ability of the periodic pipe structure. Finally, a finiteelement pipe model is constructed using the MSC-Actran software, and the calculated results match well with
the vibration experiment. The errors between the theoretical calculation results and the vibration experimental
results are analyzed.

PACS: 43. 40. +s, 46. 40. Cd, 62. 30. +d

DOI: 10.1088/0256-307X/27/11/114301

Fluid and structural vibrations of pipe systems exist in many fields. The vibrations not only emit an
undesirable noise but would also destroy the pipe system and machines. Therefore, vibration control of
fluid-filled piping systems has received considerable
attention and has been studied intensely[18] due to
its theoretical and practical values to a wide variety
of applications.
Over the last decade, the propagation of elastic waves in periodic composites called PCs has received considerable attention.[921] The complete elastic band gaps (BGs) of the PCs, within which sound
and vibration both are forbidden, have drawn great
interests of many researchers.[21] Based on the BGs
theory of PCs, various pipe structures have been studied theoretically. Sorokin and Ershova[3] modeled the
pipe wall as a periodic cylindrical shell structure and
analyzed the energy transmission in the cylindrical
shell with and without internal heavy fluid loading
by boundary integral equations and by Floquet theory. Yu et al.[22] investigated the flexural vibration
within the combination of Bragg gaps and LR gaps
by increasing the lattice constant. Shen et al studied
the flexural vibration properties of a periodic straight
pipe and the coupled vibration properties in a 3D periodic piping system.[23,24]
In this Letter, a periodic pipe system using the
idea of PCs is constructed and a pipe vibration experimental is performed. The band structure of flexural waves in the periodic pipe is calculated with the
TM method. The BGs appearing in the band structure predict that the propagation of the flexural waves
in the BG frequency ranges will be forbidden theoretically. The vibration experimental results of the
pipe system perfectly validate that the flexural vibration could be strongly attenuated within BGs fre-

quency ranges. Furthermore, a finite-element pipe

model is constructed according to the parameters of
the experimental piping system, and the frequency response functions (FRFs) are calculated with the help
of the MSC-Actran commercial software. The frequency ranges of BGs calculated by the MSC match
mainly with the vibration experiment. Finally, the
errors between the theoretical calculations and the vibration experiment test are analyzed.
Figure 1 shows the configuration of the material
composite periodic pipe, based on the Bragg scattering mechanism of PCs. The system consists of an infinite repetition of alternating pipe A with length 1
and pipe B with length 2 . Thus, the PC pipe has a
lattice constant of = 1 + 2 . Moreover, pipe A and
pipe B are made up of different materials of A and B,
respectively.
x

ux y
A
fx my (n-1) cell

B
n cell

(n+1) cell

Fig. 1. A sketch of the infinite fluid-filled periodic pipe

structure.

Based on the Timoshenko beam model,[25] the flexural vibration state vector of the fluid-filled pipe can
be expressed by[24,25]
() = () ,

(1)

where () is the flexural vibration state vector (consisting of the pipe cross-sectional shear force , flexural displacement of the x-axis direction , crosssection slop and bending moment ), () is
the dynamic stiffness matrix and is the wave coefficient vector. Due to the periodicity of the infi-

* Supported

by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos 50875255 and 10902123.
whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: wenjihong@vip.sina.com
c 2010 Chinese Physical Society and IOP Publishing Ltd

** To

114301-1

CHIN. PHYS. LETT. Vol. 27, No. 11 (2010) 114301

240

240
220

Frequency f (Hz)

BG3: 138.7-149.2 Hz
BG2: 111.1-119.2 Hz

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

240

Frequency f (Hz)

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

200

160

120

-1.0

-0.5

0.5

1.0

Fig. 4. The flexural wave band structure of the pure steel

pipe with fluid loading.

Real part of k
(b)

220
200
180
160
140
120
100
80

Wave vector k

BG1: 83.9-90.3 Hz
-0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2

-0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2

80

100
80

BG1: 106.7-121.3 Hz

240

BG4: 166.6-179.7 Hz

120

120

Fig. 3. The flexural wave band structure of the periodic

pipe without fluid loading.

160
140

140

Wave vector k

BG5: 194.7-211.3 Hz

180

BG2: 152.8-177 Hz

160

80

220
200

180

100

(a)

BG6: 223.1-241.8 Hz

BG3: 202.9-236.2 Hz

200

Frequency f (Hz)

where is the 4 4 unit matrix. For the given values of , Eq. (2) gives the values of . Depending on
whether is real or has an imaginary part, the corresponding wave propagates through the beam (pass
bands) or is damped (BGs).
As an example, using the TM method, we calculate the band structure with rubber as the material of
pipe A and steel as the material of pipe B. The density, Youngs modulus and shear modulus of rubber
are 1300 kgm3 , 1.2 108 Pa and 4 107 Pa, respectively. The corresponding material parameters of steel
are 7780 kgm3 , 21.06 1010 Pa and 8.10 1010 Pa.
The fluid in the pipe is water and the density is
= 1000 kg/m3 . The lattice constant (the length
of one periodic pipe cell) is chosen to be = 1.27 m,
whereas 1 = 1.05 m and 2 = 0.22 m. The inner and
outer radii of the pipe are chosen to be = 0.04 m
and = 0.0445 m.

179.7 Hz 194.7211.3 Hz and 223.1241.8 Hz. Additionally, the imaginary part of the complex band
structure in Fig. 2(b) can be used to describe the attenuation capability of one periodic pipe cell between
the frequency range of band gaps.[26,27] The maximum
attenuation in the six gaps is 0.117, 0.147, 0.19, 0.246,
0.31 and 0.378, respectively. The dashed line denotes
the near-field wave, which departs from the traveling
wave for all frequencies.

Frequency f (Hz)

nite structure in the direction and satisfying the

Bloch theorem for the th cell and the ( 1)th
cell, , = (1), with being the onedimensional wave vector in the direction. It follows
that the eigenvalues of the infinite periodic pipe structure with fluid loading are the roots of the determinant:
| | = 0,
(2)

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

4.5

Imaginary part of k
Fig. 2. The flexural wave band structure of the periodic
fluid-filled pipe: (a) the real wave vector, (b) the absolute
value of the imaginary part of the complex wave vector.

Figure 2 illustrates the complex band structure of the periodic pipe with fluid loading. The
shadow regions in Fig. 2(a) indicate six complete BGs:
83.990.3 Hz, 111.1119.2 Hz, 138.7149.2 Hz,166.6

The BGs in the periodic pipe without fluid loading

is illustrated in Fig. 3, and the BGs frequency ranges
are 106.7121.3 Hz, 152.8177 Hz and 202.9236.2 Hz.
Comparing Fig. 2 with Fig. 3, one can find that the
BGs in Fig. 3 have two distinct differences. One is
that the width of the BGs in Fig. 3 is much wider
than that in Fig. 2 and the start frequencies of the
BGs are higher. This is because the density of fluid
filling in the pipe lowers the start frequencies. The
other is that the attenuation vibration ability of the
periodic pipe with fluid loading is depressed. This is
because the vibration energy can be transferred from
the additional fluid way.[28]
However, a pure steel pipe with fluid loading will
not produce any BGs, as the band structure is illustrated in Fig. 4.
From Figs. 24, one could conclude that the pe-

114301-2

CHIN. PHYS. LETT. Vol. 27, No. 11 (2010) 114301

riodic pipe structure conveying fluid can effectively

attenuate the flexural vibration during the frequency
ranges in band gaps.
Furthermore, to illuminate the attenuation capability of the periodic pipe more strongly, a piping experimental system is constructed and the vibration
experiment is performed. The experimental system
can be seen in Fig. 5, in which the periodic pipe consists of three periodic pipe cells, which is made up of a
steel pipe and a flexible pipe. The length of a periodic
pipe cell (the lattice constant) is 1.27 m, thereinto, the
steel pipe is in length of 1.05 m, which is the same as
the theoretical model, as well as the inner- and outerradius parameters of the pipe. The difference is that
there are five elastic supports holding up the periodic
experimental pipe. The first elastic support is placed
at a point at 0.45 m away from the right end of the
pipe; the distances between each pair of springs are
as follows: 0.41 m, 0.95 m, 0.96 m and 0.66 m, respectively (from the first to the fifth spring). The steel
pipe cells and the flexible pipes are connected by the
DN89 flanges. The pipe is filled with water, and the
velocity of flow is 8.5 m/s.

B&K7700
Pluse software

Flexibility
tube

B&K3560C
Analyzer

Steel
pipe
B&K2732
Power amplifier

Fig. 7. The finite-element model of the experimental periodic pipe.

B&K4824
modal
excitation
system

Frequency response (dB)

Accelerometer: B&K4507B

Right

Left

Accelerometer: B&K4507B

Fig. 5. The experimental periodic pipe system.

10

Frequency response (dB)

the vibration attenuation ability of the periodic with

the pure steel pipe (non-periodic pipe), we substitute
the flexible pipes with steel pipes, and we perform
the vibration experiment with the same load. The vibration experimental results are shown in Fig. 6. The
solid and dashed lines are the FRFs of the periodic
pipe and the pure steel pipe, respectively.
Observing the FRFs of the periodic pipe (the solid
line) in Fig. 6, we could find two obvious BGs in the
frequency range of 02500 Hz, i.e. at 4501680 Hz and
at 17802450 Hz. Compared with the FRFs of the
pure steel pipe, the dashed line in Fig. 6 does not appear any apparent BGs. Obviously, the flexural waves
propagating in this periodic pipe is strongly attenuated in the BGs frequency ranges. Thus, the superiority of the periodic pipe in vibration reduction can
be easily seen.

Periodic pipe
Steel pipe

0
-10
-20

3 cells
6 cells

-100
-200
-300
-400
-500
0

-30

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Frequency (Hz)

-40

Fig. 8. The flexural vibration FRFs calculated by the

commercial software MSC-Actran. The solid and dashed
lines correspond to the 3-periodic cells and 6-periodic cells,
respectively.

-50
-60
-70
0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Frequency (Hz)
Fig. 6. The flexural vibration FRFs of the finite samples of the experimental pipe. The solid and dashed lines
correspond to the periodic pipe and the pure steel pipe,
respectively.

Then, a white-noise signal with a bandwidth from

0 to 3.2 kHz is input into the vibration shaker, which
transmits vibrations to the right end of the pipe
through the force transducer. The flexural waves
propagate through the periodic pipe. The acceleration (vibration signal) at the two ends of the pipe is
measured with two accelerometers. For comparison

Furthermore, to verify the vibration experimental

results theoretically, a finite-element periodic pipe is
modeled by the commercial software MSC-Actran, as
shown in Fig. 7. The pipe parameters and the elastic
supports are exactly the same with the experimental
pipes parameters, except the still water in the finiteelement pipe model because the MSC-Actran could
only analyze still fluid. The FRFs calculated by the
MSC-Actran are illustrated in Fig. 8. The solid and
dashed lines correspond to the 3-periodic cells and 6periodic cells, respectively.
Investigating the FRFs in Fig. 8, one can find
the attenuation in the two frequency ranges becomes

114301-3

CHIN. PHYS. LETT. Vol. 27, No. 11 (2010) 114301

stronger with the increasing-periodic cells. Thus they

are BGs with frequency ranges 4601200 Hz and 1750
2495 Hz. The BGs frequency ranges match well with
the vibration experiment except some transmission
peaks due to the finite structure modes. However,
there are some errors between the theoretical calculation and the vibration experiment test. They could
boil down to three reasons as follows: (1) geometric
errors between the finite-element model and the experimental pipe system, especially the geometric errors of the flexible pipe and the elastic supports; (2)
material parameters errors, in which the parameters
of the Youngs modulus and shear modulus of rubber
change as the frequency changes, thereby prohibiting
the MSC calculation from being correct; (3) difference of the load-cases in the vibration experiment and
in the MSC calculation. During the vibration experiment, the inner water is flowing, whereas in the MSCs
calculation, the water is resting. In spite of these differences, the experimental vibration still perfectly accomplishes the validation of the flexural vibration attenuation ability of the periodic piping system.
In conclusion, the flexural wave in a periodic
straight pipe has been studied theoretically and experimentally. Both the theoretical and the experimental
results strongly illuminate that the existence of the
BGs in the periodic pipe could effectively control the
propagation of vibration in piping systems during the
BGs frequency ranges. Periodic pipe structures with
BGs may provide a novel avenue for noise reduction
and vibration attenuation in piping systems.

References
[1] Koo G H and Park Y S 1996 Int. J. Pres. Ves. Piping 67 249
[2] Koo G H and Park Y S 1998 J. Sound Vib. 210 53
[3] Sorokin S V and Ershova O A 2006 J. Sound Vib. 291 81

[4] Sorokin S V, Olhoff N and Ershova O A 2008 J. Sound Vib.

310 1141
[5] Zhao L D 2006 Pipeline Technique and Equipment 6 30 (in
Chinese)
[6] Chen G and Zhu S J 2004 J. Naval University of Engineering 16 40 (in Chinese)
[7] Zhu S J and Chen G 2006 J. Ship Mechanics 10 142 (in
Chinese)
[8] Li F 1995 J. Sound Vib. 183 169
[9] Sigalas M M and Economou E N 1992 J. Sound Vib. 158
377
[10] Kushwaha M S, Halevi P and Dobrzynski L 1993
Phys. Rev. Lett. 71 2022
[11] Kushwaha M S, Halevi P, Martinez G, Dobrzynski L and
Djafari-Rouhani B 1994 Phys. Rev. B 49 2313
[12] Liu Z Y, Zhang X, Mao Y, Zhu Y Y, Yang Z, Chan C T
and Sheng P 2000 Science 289 1734
[13] Goffaux C, Snchez-Dehesa J, Levy Yeyati A, Lambin
P, Khelif A, Vasseur J O and Djafari-Rouhani B 2002
Phys. Rev. Lett. 88 225502
[14] Liu Z, Chan C T and P Sheng 2002 Phys. Rev. B 65 165116
[15] Hirsekorn M, Delsanto P P, Batra N K and Matic P 2004
Ultrasonics 42 231
[16] Wen J H, Wang G and Yu D L 2005 J. Appl. Phys. 97
114907
[17] Wen J H, Wang G, Liu Y Z and Yu D L 2004 Acta Phys. Sin.
53 3384 (in Chinese)
[18] Wen J H, Yu D L, Zhao H G and Liu Y Z 2007 Acta
Phys. Sin. 56 2298 (in Chinese)
[19] Yu D L, Liu Y Z, Qiu J, Wang G and Zhao H G 2006
Phys. Lett. A 357 154
[20] Yu D L, Liu Y Z, Zhao H G, Wang G and Qiu J 2006
Phys. Rev. B 73 064301
[21] Wen X S 2006 Phononic Crystals (Beijing: National Defense Industry Press) (in Chinese)
[22] Yu D L, Wen J H, Zhao H G and Liu Y Z 2008 J. Sound
Vib. 318 193
[23] Shen H J, Wen J H, Yu D L and Wen X S 2009 J. Sound
Vib. 328 57
[24] Shen H J, Wen J H, Yu D L and Wen X S 2009 Acta
Phys. Sin. 58 257 (in Chinese)
[25] Lesmez M W 1998 PhD Thesis (Michigan State University)
[26] Nougaoui A and Djafari R B 1988 Surf. Sci. 199 623
[27] Yu D L, Liu Y Z, Wang G and Cai L 2005 Phys. Lett. A
348 410
[28] Shen H J 2010 MS Thesis (National University of Defense
Technology) (in Chinese)

114301-4