Frequency lock-in during nonlinear vibration of an airfoil coupled with van der Pol Oscillator

The frequency lock-in during the nonlinear vibration of a turbomachinery blade is modeled using a spring-mounted airfoil coupled with a van der Pol Oscillator (VDP) oscillator. The proposed reduced-order model uses the nonlinear VDP oscillator to represent the oscillatory nature of wake dynamics caused by the vortex shedding. The damping term in the VDP oscillator is assumed to be nonlinear. The coupled equations governing the pitch and plunge motion of an airfoil are used to approximate the vibration of a turbomachinery blade. Springs having cubic-order nonlinearity for their stiffnesses are used to mount the airfoil. The unsteady lift acting on the blade is modeled using a self-excited nonlinear wake oscillator. The model for wake dynamics takes into account the influence of blade inertia. The nonlinear coupled three degrees of freedom (dof) aeroelastic system is studied for instability resulting in the frequency lock-in phenomenon. The equations are transformed into non-dimensional form, and then the frequencies of the coupled system are plotted to demonstrate the frequency lock-in. Further, the method of multiple scales is used to derive modulation equations which represent the amplitude and phase of the oscillation. The results obtained using the method of multiple scales are compared with direct numerical solutions to verify the present modeling method. The steady-state amplitudes of the response are plotted against the detuning parameter, which represents the frequency response curve. Further, the sensitivity of non-dimensional parameters such as coupling coefficients, mass ratio, reduced velocity, static unbalance, structural damping coefficient and the ratio of uncoupled pitch and plunge natural frequencies on the frequency response is investigated. The study revealed that parameters such as mass ratio, reduced velocity, structural damping coefficient, and coupling coefficients have a stronger influence in suppressing the amplitude of vibration. Meanwhile, parameters such as the frequency ratio, static unbalance, reduced velocity, and mass ratio significantly affect the range of frequency in which the lock-in phenomenon happens. Further, linear perturbation analysis is done to understand the qualitative effect of the system parameters such as coupling coefficients, mass ratio, frequency ratio, and static unbalance on the range of lock-in.