Design and Control of Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulations for Testing Non-Return-Valve Vibrations in Air Systems

Non-return-valves are commonly used across the range of industries for prevention of reverse flow conditions where they often exhibit premature failure due to self-sustained oscillations that are a result of fluid structure interactions. This paper details the design of a proof of concept hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) simulator and its controller for simulating fluid-structure interactions of a non-return-valve with an arbitrary air system geometry. A numerical model of an airbitrary air system is coupled to the physical non-return-valve via a purpose built fast acting control valve and associated instrumentation to simulate both stable and unstable vibrations. The vibrations of the non-return-valve in the HWIL simulator are compared against its vibrations in the real air system and are found to have an excellent agreement for a range of massflows and air system volumes. The simulator described in this paper can be used for simulating other types of passive flow control devices with arbitrary air systems thereby offering potential for significantly reducing the cost of full system tests.