Flow Induced Vibrations of a Hydraulic Valve and Their Elimination

The flow induced vibrations of a check valve with a spring damper to prevent slamming have been studied experimentally. Both prototype and two-dimensional model experiments were conducted to develop an understanding of the mechanism of self-excitation. The phenomenon is shown to be caused by the high rate of change of discharge at small angles of valve opening and the hysteretic hydrodynamic loading resulting from fluid inertia. As the discharge-displacement characteristics of the valve are dependent on its geometry, modifications of this geometry were examined and one found which eliminated the vibrations entirely. The phenomenon studied is considered to be the same as that causing vibrations in numerous other flow control devices when operating at small openings.