Exact closed-form solution for buckling and free vibration of pipes conveying fluid with intermediate elastic supports

In this paper, the exact closed-form solution is given to investigate the influence of the intermediate elastic support on the buckling and free vibration of an elastically supported pipe. According to the Euler–Bernoulli beam theory, the mechanical model of the pipe is established. The exact equilibrium configuration is derived using the generalised function method without enforcing continuity conditions. A simple solution to the eigenvalue problem is formulated using the methods of complex mode superposition and Laplace transformation. The comparative study shows the differences in the supercritical vibration characteristics and highlights the limitations of previous studies. Parametric studies are carried out to investigate the influence of elastic support and intermediate support conditions on the equilibrium configuration, critical flow velocity, and natural frequency. The results demonstrate that the proposed closed-form solution can determine the support conditions that lead to the maximum critical flow velocity and natural frequency of a pipe with multiple intermediate supports. The maximum values are required to adjust the support conditions leading to the nodes of higher-order equilibrium configurations and complex modes. Furthermore, the natural frequencies of the pipe conveying supercritical fluid no longer satisfy the monotonicity for the support stiffness, the symmetry for the support position, and the ‘zero-point’ property for the support number.