Spectral element method for vibration analysis of three-dimensional pipes conveying fluid

Initiated by the problem of the coupled vibration of three-dimensional pipes conveying fluid, a spectral element method is proposed to address its dynamic characteristics. Based on a more comprehensive fluid-filled beam model than previous studies, not only the shear deformation, gravity, initial tension and fluid friction, but also the fluid–structure coupling is analyzed so as to obtain more reasonable results. The present method is validated by comparing numerical results of a T-shaped branched pipe with data from the literature, as well as from finite element software. It is shown that the spectral element method (SEM) has remarkable advantages over finite element method in computational efficiency and accuracy. In addition, through experiments on the vibrations of an L-shaped water-filled pipe, the in-plane and out-plane acceleration responses by SEM are also verified. This method would have great potential in modeling the vibrations of complex pipelines conveying fluid in a variety of engineering applications.