Flutter analysis of a viscoelastic tapered wing under bending–torsion loading

The dynamic stability of a tapered viscoelastic wing subjected to unsteady aerodynamic forces is investigated. The wing is considered as a cantilever tapered Euler–Bernoulli beam. The beam is made of a linear viscoelastic material where Kelvin–Voigt model is assumed to represent the viscoelastic behavior of the material. The governing equations of motion are derived through the extended Hamilton’s principle. The resulting partial differential equations are solved via Galerkin’s method along with the classical flutter investigation approach. The developed model is validated against the well-known Goland wing and HALE wing and good agreement is obtained. Different solution methods, namely; the k method, the p-k method, and the flutter determinant method are compared for the case of elastic wing. However, when the viscoelastic damping is introduced, the k and p-k methods become less effective. The flutter determinant method is modified and employed to carry out non-dimensional parametric study on the Goland wing. The study includes the effects of parameters such as the taper ratio, the density ratio, the viscoelastic damping of wing structure and many other parameters on the flutter speed and flutter frequency. The study reveals that a tapered wing would be more dynamically stable than a uniform wing. It is also observed that the viscoelastic damping provides wider stability region for the wing. The investigation shows that the density ratio, bending-to-torsion frequency ratio, and the radius of gyration have significant effects on the dynamic stability of the wing. Based on the obtained results, a wing with an elastic center and inertial center that are located closer to the mid-chord would be more dynamically stable.     

A general modal frequency-domain vortex lattice method for aeroelastic analyses

The generalized aerodynamic force (GAF) matrix is derived for the Unsteady Vortex Lattice Method (UVLM) without the assumption of out-of-plane dynamics. As a result, the approach naturally includes in-plane motion and forces unlike the doublet lattice method (DLM). The derived UVLM GAF is therefore applicable to industry-standard techniques for aeroelastic stability analyses, such as the p–k method. In this work, the fluid–structure interpolation is performed with radial basis functions for surface interpolation. The generalized aerodynamic forces computed with the UVLM are verified against the DLM from NASTRAN on a simple flat plate configuration. The ability of the UVLM to include steady loads is verified with a T-tail flutter case and the results confirm the importance of including steady loads for T-tail flutter analysis. The modal frequency domain VLM therefore provides the same level of efficiency and accuracy than the DLM, but without the restrictions and with the ability to handle complex geometries. It is therefore a viable replacement to the DLM.     

变后掠翼的参变气动弹性建模与分析

参变气动弹性建模是可变后掠翼气动弹性研究中的难点之一. 当地建模技术是一种构造线性参变 (LPV) 模型的实用方法, 但一直缺乏有效途径来解决当地气动弹性模型的不一致问题. 气动弹性模型的不一致性体现在当地结构动力学模型和非定常气动力模型随参数变化的不连续性. 本文提出了一种自下而上的方法, 对变后掠翼不一致的当地气动弹性模型进行了一致性处理. 首先, 采用匈牙利算法跟踪结构模态并按模态分支进行排序, 使得匹配后的模态能够保证结构动力学模型的一致性; 其次, 对有理函数拟合表达式中的系数矩阵进行缩放处理, 解决了空气动力系数矩阵的不一致问题. 采取上述两项措施后, 最终生成了一致的当地状态空间气动弹性模型. 这样, 对一致的状态空间模型进行插值, 就可快速生成任意后掠角下的气动弹性模型, 使得系统的稳定性分析和慢参变响应计算得以高效进行. 数值仿真结果验证了一致性处理的必要性:未经一致性处理的原始模型经插值后得到的模型会出现严重的模型误差. 本文为变后掠翼的参变气动弹性系统建模提供了一种实用、准确和高效的建模方法.      

基于流形切空间插值的折叠翼参数化气动弹性建模

变体飞行器的气动弹性力学建模是当前先进飞行器设计的研究热点和难点. 然而传统的气动弹性动力学建模方法对于具有结构参变特性的变体飞行器气动弹性力学研究存在建模效率低、计算复杂等问题. 本研究提出了一种基于流形切空间插值的可折叠式变体机翼参数化气动弹性建模方法. 首先, 该方法建立若干个典型折叠角下的折叠翼结构有限元模型, 通过流形切空间插值方法建立折叠翼参数化结构动力学模型. 其次, 采用偶极子网格法得到参数化非定常气动力模型, 进而建立气动和结构相互耦合的折叠翼参数化气动弹性模型. 为了验证该参数化建模方法在折叠翼气动弹性分析中的准确性, 本文以一小展弦比折叠翼为研究对象, 从折叠翼自由振动时的参变模态特性、颤振边界预测两方面进行了算例验证, 并与直接计算方法进行了对比, 进一步验证了参数化气动弹性模型的有效性. 研究结果表明, 该参数化气动弹性模型对上述两类问题的计算精度与直接计算方法一致, 并且有着计算效率更高的优势.      

基于POD和代理模型的静气动弹性分析方法

静气动弹性问题考虑弹性结构与定常气动力间的相互耦合作用,对飞行器的性能和安全具有显著的影响.在现代飞行器设计阶段,计算流体力学(CFD)/计算结构力学(CSD)直接耦合方法是精确考察静气动弹性影响的重要手段.然而,基于CFD技术的气动力仿真手段在耦合过程中计算量大且耗时长,难以满足设计阶段的需求.因此,为了兼顾计算精度与效率,文章采用本征正交分解(POD)和Kriging代理模型相结合的模型降阶方法,替代CFD求解过程并耦合有限元分析(FEA)方法,建立了高效、准确的静气动弹性分析框架.相较于传统的以模态法为主的静气动弹性分析方法,该方法能够解决更为复杂的静气动弹性问题以及提供静气动弹性变形过程中的气动分布载荷.针对典型三维跨声速HIRENASD机翼模型开展的马赫数、迎角变化的算例验证表明:由建立的静气动弹性分析方法与CFD/CSD直接耦合方法计算得到机翼翼梢处的静变形量间的相对误差在5%以内;同时该方法预测静平衡位置处的气动分布载荷的误差在5%以内,静气动弹性分析的计算效率至少提升了6倍.     

Investigation of nonlinear characteristics of the motor-gear transmission system by trajectory-based stability preserving dimension reduction methodology

Gear-motor system is a typically nonlinear system because of many nonlinear factors, such as time-varying meshing stiffness, backlash, and the nonlinear relationship between the electric motor torque and speed. At present, the nonlinear analytical methods can only be used for simplified gear dynamic model. Though the numerical methods can be used for the complicated dynamic model, the quantitative analysis of stability is difficult and rarely conducted. Therefore, a kind of trajectory-based stability preserving dimension reduction (TSPDR) methodology is proposed to investigate nonlinear dynamic characteristics of the gear-motor system. In the TSPDR methodology herein, the complementary cluster center of inertia-relative motion (CCCOI-RM) transformation is chosen and the stability margins are specially defined for distinguishing the stable motion modes of the motor-gear system, to make the TSPDR methodology used in the nonlinear analysis of the gear-motor system. Furthermore, the critical values are obtained for alteration of different motion modes and the nonlinear characteristics of each motion modes are analyzed. At last, combined with modal analysis, the relationship between the stability and resonance of the gear-motor system is revealed.     

Aerodynamic characteristics of a thin airfoil cascade in an ideal incompressible flow with separation from the leading edges

A new method of solving the problem of separation flow past a cascade of thin airfoils is proposed. The method is based on the model of separated flow past a single airfoil in which vortex wakes shed from the airfoil edges are modeled by vortex layers with time-averaged intensities. Under the assumption of a small deviation of the freestream angle α from the “impactless entry” angle α ₀ the singular integral equation governing the flow kinematics is closed by a dynamic equation. It is shown that the separation effect on the time-averaged aerodynamic characteristics of the cascade is associated with the total pressure loss due to the flow energy expenditure on the vortex wake formation. The aerodynamic characteristics of the cascade calculated with and without account for flow separation differ by the second-order quantity ? = α ? α ₀.     

True damping and frequency prediction for aeroelastic systems: The PP method

This paper presents a numerical scheme for stability analysis of the aeroelastic systems in the Laplace domain. The proposed technique, which is called the PP method, is proposed for when the aerodynamic model is represented in the Laplace domain and includes complicated transcendental expressions in terms of the Laplace variable. This method utilizes a matrix iterative procedure to find the eigenvalues of the system and generalizes the other methods such as the P and PK methods for prediction of the flutter conditions. The major advantage of this technique over the other approximate methods is true prediction of subcritical damping and frequency values of the aeroelastic modes. To examine the present technique for stability analysis, some typical examples are used which illustrate its applicability and advantages.     

Numerical Simulation of a Passive Control of the Flow Around an Aerofoil Using a Flexible,Self Adaptive Flaplet

Self-activated feathers are used by almost all birds to adapt their wing characteristics to delay stall or to moderate its adverse effects (e.g., during landing or sudden increase in angle of attack due to gusts). Some of the feathers are believed to pop up as a consequence of flow separation and to interact with the flow and produce beneficial modifications of the unsteady vorticity field. The use of self adaptive flaplets in aircrafts, inspired by birds feathers, requires the understanding of the physical mechanisms leading to the mentioned aerodynamic benefits and the determination of the characteristics of optimal flaps including their size, positioning and ideal fabrication material. In this framework, this numerical study is divided in two parts. Firstly, in a simplified scenario, we determine the main characteristics that render a flap mounted on an aerofoil at high angle of attack able to deliver increased lift and improved aerodynamic efficiency, by varying its length, position and its natural frequency. Later on, a detailed direct numerical simulation analysis is used to understand the origin of the aerodynamic benefits introduced by the flaplet movement induced by the interaction with the flow field. The parametric study that has been carried out, reveals that an optimal flap can deliver a mean lift increase of about 20% on a NACA0020 aerofoil at an incidence of 20 ^o degrees. The results obtained from the direct numerical simulation of the flow field around the aerofoil equipped with the optimal flap at a chord Reynolds number of 2 × 10⁴ shows that the flaplet movement is mainly induced by a cyclic passage of a large recirculation bubble on the aerofoil suction side. In turns, when the flap is pushed downward, the induced plane jet displaces the trailing edge vortices further downstream, away from the wing, moderating the downforce generated by those vortices and regularising the shedding cycle that appears to be much more organised when the optimal flaplet configuration is selected.     

Improvement for expansion of parabolized stability equation method in boundary layer stability analysis

An improved expansion of the parabolized stability equation(iEPSE) method is proposed for the accurate linear instability prediction in boundary layers. It is a local eigenvalue problem, and the streamwise wavenumber α and its streamwise gradient dα/dx are unknown variables. This eigenvalue problem is solved for the eigenvalue dα/dx with an initial α, and the correction of α is performed with the conservation relation used in the PSE. The i EPSE is validated in several compressible and incompressible boundary layers. The computational results show that the prediction accuracy of the i EPSE is significantly higher than that of the ESPE, and it is in excellent agreement with the PSE which is regarded as the baseline for comparison. In addition, the unphysical multiple eigenmode problem in the EPSE is solved by using the i EPSE. As a local non-parallel stability analysis tool, the i EPSE has great potential application in the eNtransition prediction in general three-dimensional boundary layers.     

Kovasznay Mode Decomposition of Velocity-Temperature Correlation in Canonical Shock-Turbulence Interaction

The correlation coefficient R_uT between the streamwise velocity and temperature is investigated for the case of canonical shock-turbulence interaction, motivated by the fact that this correlation is an important component in compressible turbulence models. The variation of R_uT with the Mach number, the turbulent Mach number, and the Reynolds number is predicted using linear inviscid theory and compared to data from DNS. The contributions from the individual Kovasznay modes are quantified. At low Mach numbers, the peak post-shock R_uT is determined by the acoustic mode, which is correctly predicted by the linear theory. At high Mach numbers, it is determined primarily by the vorticity and entropy modes, which are strongly affected by nonlinear and viscous effects, and thus less well predicted by the linear theory.     

Instabilities of a thin viscoelastic liquid film flowing down an inclined plane in the presence of a uniform electromagnetic field

The effect of a uniform electromagnetic field on the stability of a thin layer of an electrically conducting viscoelastic liquid flowing down on a nonconducting inclined plane is studied under the induction-free approximation. Long-wave expansion method is used to obtain the surface evolution equation. The stabilizing role of the magnetic parameter M and the destabilizing role of the viscoelastic parameter Γ as well as the electric parameter E on this flow field are established. A novel result which emerges from our analysis is that the stabilizing effect of M holds no longer true for both viscous and viscoelastic fluids in the presence of electromagnetic field. It is found that when E exceeds a certain critical value depending on Γ, magnetic field exhibits the destabilizing effect on this flow field. Indeed, this critical value decreases with the increase of the viscoelastic parameter Γ since it has a destabilizing effect inherently. Another noteworthy result which arises from the weakly nonlinear stability analysis is that both the subcritical unstable and supercritical stable zones are possible together with the unconditional stable and explosive zones for different values of Γ depending on the wave number k.     

Inviscid vortex structures in the shock layers of conical flows around V wings

The applicability of the criteria of existence of inviscid vortex structures (vortex Ferri singularities) is studied in the case in which a contact discontinuity of the corresponding intensity proceeds from the branching point of the λ shock wave configuration accompanying turbulent boundary layer separation under the action of an inner shock incident on the leeward wing panel. The calculated and experimental data are analyzed, in particular, those obtained using the special shadow technique developed for visualizing supersonic conical streams in nonsymmetric, Mach number 3 flow around a wing with zero sweep of the leading edges and the vee angle of 2π /3. The applicability of the criteria of existence of inviscid vortex structures is established for contact discontinuities generated by the λ shock wave configuration accompanying turbulent boundary layer separation realized under the action of a shock wave incident on the leeward wing panel. Thus, it is established that the formation of the vortex Ferri singularities in a shock layer is independent of the reason for the existence of the contact discontinuity and depends only on its intensity.     

Pressure-Gradient Turbulent Boundary Layers Developing Around a Wing Section

A direct numerical simulation database of the flow around a NACA4412 wing section at R e _c = 400,000 and 5^° angle of attack (Hosseini et al. Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow 61, 117–128, 2016), obtained with the spectral-element code Nek5000, is analyzed. The Clauser pressure-gradient parameter β ranges from ? 0 and 85 on the suction side, and from 0 to ? 0.25 on the pressure side of the wing. The maximum R e _?? and R e _τ values are around 2,800 and 373 on the suction side, respectively, whereas on the pressure side these values are 818 and 346. Comparisons between the suction side with zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer data show larger values of the shape factor and a lower skin friction, both connected with the fact that the adverse pressure gradient present on the suction side of the wing increases the wall-normal convection. The adverse-pressure-gradient boundary layer also exhibits a more prominent wake region, the development of an outer peak in the Reynolds-stress tensor components, and increased production and dissipation across the boundary layer. All these effects are connected with the fact that the large-scale motions of the flow become relatively more intense due to the adverse pressure gradient, as apparent from spanwise premultiplied power-spectral density maps. The emergence of an outer spectral peak is observed at β values of around 4 for λ _z ? 0.65δ ₉₉, closer to the wall than the spectral outer peak observed in zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layers at higher R e _?? . The effect of the slight favorable pressure gradient present on the pressure side of the wing is opposite the one of the adverse pressure gradient, leading to less energetic outer-layer structures.     

Unsteady characteristics of low-Re flow past two tandem cylinders

This study investigated the two-dimensional flow past two tandem circular or square cylinders at Re = 100 and D / d = 4–10, where D is the center-to-center distance and d is the cylinder diameter. Numerical simulation was performed to comparably study the effect of cylinder geometry and spacing on the aerodynamic characteristics, unsteady flow patterns, time-averaged flow characteristics and flow unsteadiness. We also provided the first global linear stability analysis and sensitivity analysis on the physical problem for the potential application of flow control. The objective of this work is to quantitatively identify the effect of the cylinder geometry and spacing on the characteristic quantities. Numerical results reveal that there is wake flow transition for both geometries depending on the spacing. The characteristic quantities, including the time-averaged and fluctuating streamwise velocity and pressure coefficient, are quite similar to that of the single cylinder case for the upstream cylinder, while an entirely different variation pattern is observed for the downstream cylinder. The global linear stability analysis shows that the spatial structure of perturbation is mainly observed in the wake of the downstream cylinder for small spacing, while moves upstream with reduced size and is also observed after the upstream cylinder for large spacing. The sensitivity analysis reflects that the temporal growth rate of perturbation is the most sensitive to the near-wake flow of downstream cylinder for small spacing and upstream cylinder for large spacing.     

Helical Structures in the Near Field of a Turbulent Pipe Jet

We perform a finely resolved Large-eddy simulation to study coherent vortical structures populating the initial (near-nozzle) zone of a pipe jet at the Reynolds number of 5300. In contrast to ‘top-hat’ jets featured by Kelvin-Helmholtz rings with the non-dimensional frequency S t≈0.3?0.6, no high-frequency dominant mode is observed in the near field of a jet issuing from a fully-developed pipe flow. Instead, in shear layers we observe a relatively wide peak in the power spectrum within the low-frequency range (S t≈0.14) corresponding to the propagating helical waves entering with the pipe flow. This is confirmed by the Fourier transform with respect to the azimuthal angle and the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition complemented with the linear stability analysis revealing that this low-frequency motion is not connected to the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. We demonstrate that the azimuthal wavenumbers m=1?5 contain the most of the turbulent kinetic energy and that a common form of an eigenmode is a helical vortex rotating around the axis of symmetry. Small and large timescales are identified corresponding to “fast” and “slow” rotating modes. While the “fast” modes correspond to background turbulence and stochastically switch from co- to counter-rotation, the “slow” modes are due to coherent helical structures which are long-lived and have low angular velocities, in agreement with the previously described spectral peak at low S t.     

A simple criterion for finite time stability with application to impacted buckling of elastic columns

The existing theories of finite-time stability depend on a prescribed bound on initial disturbances and a prescribed threshold for allowable responses. It remains a challenge to identify the critical value of loading parameter for finite time instability observed in experiments without the need of specifying any prescribed threshold for allowable responses. Based on an energy balance analysis of a simple dynamic system, this paper proposes a general criterion for finite time stability which indicates that finite time stability of a linear dynamic system with constant coefficients during a given time interval [0, t _f ] is guaranteed provided the product of its maximum growth rate (determined by the maximum eigen-root p₁ >0) and the duration t _f does not exceed 2, i.e., p₁t _f <2. The proposed criterion (p₁t _f =2) is applied to several problems of impacted buckling of elastic columns: (i) an elastic column impacted by a striking mass, (ii) longitudinal impact of an elastic column on a rigid wall, and (iii) an elastic column compressed at a constant speed (“Hoff problem”), in which the time-varying axial force is replaced approximately by its average value over the time duration. Comparison of critical parameters predicted by the proposed criterion with available experimental and simulation data shows that the proposed criterion is in robust reasonable agreement with the known data, which suggests that the proposed simple criterion (p₁t _f =2) can be used to estimate critical parameters for finite time stability of dynamic systems governed by linear equations with constant coefficients.     

折叠翼飞行器的动力学建模与稳定控制

折叠翼飞行器在变形过程中,其动力学模型呈现多刚体、多自由度和强非线性特点,同时气动力/力矩、压心、质心和转动惯量等参数也会大幅度变化,严重影响飞行稳定性. 由此,本论文将对飞行器的多刚体动力学建模与变形稳定控制进行研究.基于凯恩方法建立了折叠翼飞行器的多刚体动力学模型,并从中得到了变形所产生的附加力和力矩表达式.通过气动计算拟合出气动参数与折叠角之间的函数关系,由此分析了不同折叠角速度下飞行器的纵向动态特性, 结果表明,折叠翼飞行器变形过程中速度、高度和俯仰角均会发生变化,飞行器无法保持稳定飞行.为此提出了一种基于自抗扰理论的飞行器变形过程中的稳定控制方法.将折叠翼飞行器纵向非线性动力学模型中存在的非线性项、耦合项以及参数时变项都视为系统内外总扰动,利用扩张状态观测器对总扰动进行实时估计和补偿, 针对补偿后的系统设计PD控制器,实现了速度通道和高度通道的解耦控制.通过Lyapunov稳定性原理证明了系统的稳定性, 并进行数学仿真验证. 仿真结果表明,基于自抗扰理论设计的稳定控制器能够解决飞行器变形所带来的强非线性和参数时变等问题,保证飞行器的高精度稳定控制.      

Revisiting History Effects in Adverse-Pressure-Gradient Turbulent Boundary Layers

The goal of this study is to present a first step towards establishing criteria aimed at assessing whether a particular adverse-pressure-gradient (APG) turbulent boundary layer (TBL) can be considered well-behaved, i.e., whether it is independent of the inflow conditions and is exempt of numerical or experimental artifacts. To this end, we analyzed several high-quality datasets, including in-house numerical databases of APG TBLs developing over flat-plates and the suction side of a wing section, and five studies available in the literature. Due to the impact of the flow history on the particular state of the boundary layer, we developed three criteria of convergence to well-behaved conditions, to be used depending on the particular case under study. (i) In the first criterion, we develop empirical correlations defining the R e _?? -evolution of the skin-friction coefficient and the shape factor in APG TBLs with constant values of the Clauser pressure-gradient parameter β = 1 and 2 (note that β = δ ^?/τ _w dP _e /dx, where δ ^? is the displacement thickness, τ _w the wall-shear stress and dP _e /dx the streamwise pressure gradient). (ii) In the second one, we propose a predictive method to obtain the skin-friction curve corresponding to an APG TBL subjected to any streamwise evolution of β, based only on data from zero-pressure-gradient TBLs. (iii) The third method relies on the diagnostic-plot concept modified with the shape factor, which scales APG TBLs subjected to a wide range of pressure-gradient conditions. These three criteria allow to ensure the correct flow development of a particular TBL, and thus to separate history and pressure-gradient effects in the analysis.