Flow-induced vibration and noise in control valve

Control valves are used as flow regulators for steam turbines, which operate under wide ranges of valve openings and pressure ratios. The inherent throttling action and complex 3D flow in control valves result in vibration and intolerable noise at small and medium valve openings. The vibration and noise clearly are firmly with the flow pattern. Experiments and numerical simulation are the primary means of determining the mechanisms. In this paper, a phenomenon of sound mutation in control valve was experimentally observed by continuously changing the pressure ratio. This phenomenon is explained for the first time. Different noise and pressure fluctuations can appear even under the same condition, depending on the process of changing the pressure ratio. A method of continuously changing the pressure ratio was used in the unsteady numerical simulation to reveal the mechanism. The results show that sound mutation occurs due to the change of annular flow and core flow. The annular flow has a lower noise and a more stable flow pattern than the core flow. Sound mutation can be used as a simple way of determining the ranges of the core flow and the annular flow.