Flow-Induced Tray Vibration and Its Prevention

In chemical processing industries (CPI), flow induced tray vibrations occurred with distillation and absorption columns using either sieve trays or valve trays. Numerous severe structural failures of industrial sieve or valve trays were attributed to flow induced vibrations. This paper discusses the basics of tray vibrations, and identifies tray parameters and tray hydraulics that affect the flow induced vibrations. Criteria and guidelines are proposed to prevent tray vibrations in new column designs or column revamps, and have been successfully applied to the industrial case of tray vibrations. The details of this industrial case and measures taken to prevent vibrations are presented and discussed.