Aeroelastic suppression of an airfoil with control surface using nonlinear energy sink

Aeroelasticity exists in airfoil with control surface freeplay, which may induce instability in an incompressible flow. In this paper, a nonlinear energy sink (NES) is used to suppress the aeroelasticity of an airfoil with a control surface. The freeplay and cubic nonlinearity in pitch are taken into account. The harmonic balance method is used to analytically determine the limit cycle oscillations (LCOs) amplitudes of the airfoil–NES system. Linear and nonlinear flutter speeds are detected from the airfoil with control surface freeplay. When NES is attached, both the linear flutter speed of airfoil without freeplay and the nonlinear flutter speed of airfoil with a freeplay are increased. Moreover, the LCO amplitude of airfoil is decreased due to NES. Then, the influences of NES parameters on the increase in flutter boundary of airfoil are carefully studied.     

Analysis of limit cycle oscillations of a typical airfoil section with freeplay

A typical airfoil section system with freeplay is investigated in the paper. The classic quasi-steady flow model is applied to calculate the aerodynamics, and a piecewise-stiffness model is adopted to characterize the nonlinearity of the airfoil section’s freeplay. There are two critical speeds in the system, i.e., a lower critical speed, above which the system might generate limit cycle oscillation, and an upper critical one, above which the system will flutter. Then a Poincaré map is constructed for the limit cycle oscillations by using piecewise-linear solutions with and without contact in the system. Through analysis of the Poincaré map, a series of equations which can determine the frequencies of period-1 limit cycle oscillations at any flight velocity are derived. Finally, these analytic results are compared to the results of numerical simulations, and a good agreement is found. The effects of freeplay value and contact stiffness ratio on the limit cycle oscillation are also analyzed through numerical simulations of the original system. Moreover, there exist multi-periods limit cycle oscillations and even complicated "chaotic" oscillations may occur, which are usually found in smooth nonlinear dynamic systems.     

Effects of multiple structural nonlinearities on limit cycle oscillation of missile control fin

Aeroelastic analyses are performed for a 2-D typical section model with multiple nonlinearities. The differences between a system with multiple nonlinearities in its pitch and plunge spring and a system with a single nonlinearity in its pitch are thoroughly investigated. The unsteady supersonic aerodynamic forces are calculated by the doublet point method (DPM). The iterative V-g method is used for a multiple-nonlinear aeroelastic analysis in the frequency domain and the freeplay nonlinearity is linearized using a describing function method. In the time domain, the DPM unsteady aerodynamic forces, which are based on a function of the reduced frequency, are approximated by the minimum state approximation method. Consequently, multiple structural nonlinearities in the 2-D typical wing section model are influenced by the pitch to plunge frequency ratio. This result is important in that it demonstrates that the flutter speed is closely connected with the frequency ratio, considering that both pitch and plunge nonlinearities result in a higher flutter speed boundary than a conventional aeroelastic system with only one pitch nonlinearity. Furthermore, the gap size of the freeplay affects the amplitude of the limit cycle oscillation (LCO) to gap size ratio.     

The post-Hopf-bifurcation response of an airfoil in incompressible two-dimensional flow

A bifurcation analysis of a two-dimensional airfoil with a structural nonlinearity in the pitch direction and subject to incompressible flow is presented. The nonlinearity is an analytical third-order rational curve fitted to a structural freeplay. The aeroelastic equations-of-motion are reformulated into a system of eight first-order ordinary differential equations. An eigenvalue analysis of the linearized equations is used to give the linear flutter speed. The nonlinear equations of motion are either integrated numerically using a fourth-order Runge-Kutta method or analyzed using the AUTO software package. Fixed points of the system are found analytically and regions of limit cycle oscillations are detected for velocities well below the divergent flutter boundary. Bifurcation diagrams showing both stable and unstable periodic solutions are calculated, and the types of bifurcations are assessed by evaluating the Floquet multipliers. In cases where the structural preload is small, regions of chaotic motion are obtained, as demonstrated by bifurcation diagrams, power spectral densities, phase-plane plots and Poincaré sections of the airfoil motion; the existence of chaos is also confirmed via calculation of the Lyapunov exponents. The general behaviour of the system is explained by the effectiveness of the freeplay part of the nonlinearity in a complete cycle of oscillation. Results obtained using this reformulated set of equations and the analytical nonlinearity are in good agreement with previously obtained finite difference results for a freeplay nonlinearity.     

Random flutter of a 2-DOF nonlinear airfoil in pitch and plunge with freeplay in pitch

The two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) airfoil system with freeplay nonlinearity in pitch is investigated numerically. The relation between eigenvalues and flutter speed has been analyzed. The effect of parameters of the freeplay nonlinearity on the system responses is obtained. The probability density function (PDF) and phase plane of the deterministic system have been studied and the results show that the amplitude of limit cycle oscillation (LCO) grows with mean airspeeds increasing. Marginal PDFs, bidimensional PDFs, random bifurcation, and the largest Lyapunov exponent are used in investigation of the random system. The results show that, for low and intermediate level turbulences, the marginal PDFs of system exhibit different characters at different airspeed ranges. However, for high level turbulence the marginal PDFs are similar in the whole airspeed region. The bidimensional PDF has different shapes in low level turbulence at pre- and post-flutter speeds, but the PDF keeps similar shape in high level turbulence. The random bifurcation analysis indicates the P-bifurcation can happen at both pre- and post-flutter speeds but the D-bifurcation never occurs. Numerical simulations approve the results.     

Direct flutter and limit cycle computations of highly flexible wings for efficient analysis and optimization

The usefulness of flutter as a design metric is diluted for wings with destabilizing (softening) nonlinearities, as a stable high-amplitude limit cycle (subcritical) may exist for flight speeds well below the flutter point. It is thus desired to design aeroelastic structures such that the post-flutter behavior is as benign (i.e., supercritical) as possible, among the other constraints commonly considered in the optimization process. In order to account for these metrics in an accurate and efficient manner, direct tools are utilized to first locate the Hopf-point (flutter speed), and then to obtain a nonlinear perturbation solution via the method of multiple scales. The latter scheme provides a scalar variable whose sign and magnitude dictate the nature of the limit cycle. The accuracy of these methods is demonstrated with a high-aspect-ratio highly flexible wing, modeled with nonlinear beam finite elements and the ONERA dynamic stall tool. Stiffness and inertial design variables are allowed to vary spatially throughout the wing, in order to conduct gradient-based optimization of the limit cycle under flutter and mass constraints. The resulting wing structure demonstrates strongly supercritical behavior, as well as several design conflicts between linear (flutter) and nonlinear (limit cycles) sensitivities, which are not present in the uniform baseline wing.     

Effects of actuator nonlinearity on aeroelastic characteristics of a control fin

The influences of actuator nonlinearities on actuator dynamics and the aeroelastic characteristics of a control fin were investigated by using iterative V-g methods in subsonic flows; in addition, the doublet-hybrid method (DHM) was used to calculate unsteady aerodynamic forces. The changes of actuator dynamics induced by nonlinearities, such as backlash or freeplay, and the variations of flutter boundaries due to the changes of actuator dynamics were observed. Results show that the aeroelastic characteristics can be significantly dependent on actuator dynamics. Thus, the actuator nonlinearities may play an important role in the nonlinear aeroelastic characteristics of an aeroelastic system. The present results also indicate that it is necessary to seriously consider the influence of actuator dynamics on the flutter characteristics at the design stage of actuators to prevent aeroelastic instabilities of aircraft or missiles.     

Nonlinear aeroservoelastic analysis of a controlled multiple-actuated-wing model with free-play

In this paper, the effects of structural nonlinearity due to free-play in both leading-edge and trailing-edge outboard control surfaces on the linear flutter control system are analyzed for an aeroelastic model of three-dimensional multiple-actuated-wing. The free-play nonlinearities in the control surfaces are modeled theoretically by using the fictitious mass approach. The nonlinear aeroelastic equations of the presented model can be divided into nine sub-linear modal-based aeroelastic equations according to the different combinations of deflections of the leading-edge and trailing-edge outboard control surfaces. The nonlinear aeroelastic responses can be computed based on these sub-linear aeroelastic systems. To demonstrate the effects of nonlinearity on the linear flutter control system, a single-input and single-output controller and a multi-input and multi-output controller are designed based on the unconstrained optimization techniques. The numerical results indicate that the free-play nonlinearity can lead to either limit cycle oscillations or divergent motions when the linear control system is implemented.     

CHARACTERIZATION OF THE BEHAVIOUR OF A SIMPLE AEROSERVOELASTIC SYSTEM WITH CONTROL NONLINEARITIES

The characterization of the behaviour of nonlinear aeroelastic systems has become a very important research topic in the Aerospace Industry. However, most work carried to-date has concentrated upon systems containing structural or aerodynamic nonlinearities. The purpose of this paper is to study the stability of a simple aeroservoelastic system with nonlinearities in the control system and power control unit. The work considers both structural and control law nonlinearities and assesses the stability of the system response using bifurcation diagrams. It is shown that simple feedback systems designed to increase the stability of the linearized system also stabilize the nonlinear system, although their effects can be less pronounced. Additionally, a nonlinear control law designed to limit the control surface pitch response was found to increase the flutter speed considerably by forcing the system to undergo limit cycle oscillations instead of fluttering. Finally, friction was found to affect the damping of the system but not its stability, as long as the amplitude of the frictional force is low enough not to cause stoppages in the motion.     

Limit cycle oscillation behavior of transonic control surface buzz considering free-play nonlinearity

The limit cycle oscillation (LCO) behaviors of control surface buzz in transonic flow are studied. Euler equations are employed to obtain the unsteady aerodynamic forces for Type B and Type C buzz analyses, and an all-movable control surface model, a wing/control surface model and a three-dimensional wing with a full-span control surface are adopted in the study. Aerodynamic and structural describing functions are used to deal with aerodynamic and structural nonlinearities, respectively. Then the buzz speed and buzz frequency are obtained by V-g method. The LCO behavior of the transonic control surface buzz system with linear structure exhibits subcritical or supercritical bifurcation at different Mach numbers. For nonlinear structural model with a free-play nonlinearity in the control surface deflection stiffness, the double LCO phenomenon is observed in certain range of flutter speed. The free-play nonlinearity changes the stability of LCOs at small amplitudes and turns the unstable LCO into a stable one. The LCO behavior is dominated by the aerodynamic nonlinearity for the case with large control surface oscillation amplitude but by the structural nonlinearity for the case with small amplitude. Good agreements between LCO behaviors obtained by the present method and available experimental data show that our study may help to explain the experimental observation in wind tunnel tests and to understand the physical mechanism of transonic control surface buzz.     

Nonlinear aeroelastic analysis of a two-dimensional wing with control surface in supersonic flow

Based on the piston theory of supersonic flow and the energy method, a two dimensional wing with a control surface in supersonic flow is theoretically modeled, in which the cubic stiffness in the torsional direction of the control surface is considered. An approximate method of the cha- otic response analysis of the nonlinear aeroelastic system is studied, the main idea of which is that under the condi- tion of stable limit cycle flutter of the aeroelastic system, the vibrations in the plunging and pitching of the wing can approximately be considered to be simple harmonic excita- tion to the control surface. The motion of the control surface can approximately be modeled by a nonlinear oscillation of one-degree-of-freedom. The range of the chaotic response of the aeroelastic system is approximately determined by means of the chaotic response of the nonlinear oscillator. The rich dynamic behaviors of the control surface are represented as bifurcation diagrams, phase-plane portraits and PS diagrams. The theoretical analysis is verified by the numerical results.     

Nonlinear aeroelasticity of high-aspect-ratio wings excited by time-dependent thrust

Effects of engine placement on flutter characteristics of a very flexible high-aspect-ratio wing are investigated using the code NATASHA (Nonlinear Aeroelastic Trim And Stability of HALE Aircraft). Gravity for this class of wings plays an important role in flutter characteristics. In the absence of aerodynamic and gravitational forces and without an engine, the kinetic energy of the first two modes are calculated. Maximum and minimum flutter speed locations coincide with the area of minimum and maximum kinetic energy of the second bending and torsion modes. Time-dependent dynamic behavior of a turboshaft engine (JetCat SP5) is simulated with a transient engine model and the nonlinear aeroelastic response of the wing to the engine’s time-dependent thrust and dynamic excitation is presented. Below the flutter speed, at the wing tip and behind the elastic axis, the impulse engine excitation leads to a stable limit cycle oscillation; and for the ramp kind of excitation, beyond the flutter speed, at 75 % span, behind the elastic axis, it produces chaotic oscillation in the wing. Both the excitations above the flutter speed are stabilized, inboard of the wing.     

Piecewise constrained optimization harmonic balance method for predicting the limit cycle oscillations of an airfoil with various nonlinear structures

A method is proposed to calculate the periodic solutions of piecewise nonlinear systems. The method is based on analytical derivation of nonlinear multi-harmonic equations of motion. Since periodic variations of nonlinear forces are characterized by different states, the vibration cycle is broken into sequential transition intervals according to the instant sets of state transitions. Analytical formulations of the harmonic coefficients of the nonlinear forces and its derivatives with respect to the harmonic coefficients of displacements are developed. Sensitivities of the harmonic coefficients of periodic solutions are determined for constructing explicit expressions for vibration amplitude levels as a function of structural parameters. Numerical investigations of the limit cycle oscillations and its sensitivities of an airfoil with different piecewise nonlinearities have been performed. The results show that the developed method is capable of determining the periodic solutions and its sensitivities with respect to the structural parameters. In order to guarantee time continuity of the nonlinear force, for the hysteresis model it is not right to track the periodic solutions by using the preload or freeplay as the continuation parameters.     

CHAOTIC MOTIONS AND LIMIT CYCLE FLUTTER OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL WING IN SUPERSONIC FLOW

Based on the piston theory of supersonic flow and the energy method, the flutter motion equations of a two-dimensional wing with cubic stiffness in the pitching direction are established. The aeroelastic system contains both structural and aerodynamic nonlinearities. Hopf bifurcation theory is used to analyze the flutter speed of the system. The effects of system parameters on the flutter speed are studied. The 4th order Runge-Kutta method is used to calculate the stable limit cycle responses and chaotic motions of the aeroelastic system. Results show that the number and the stability of equilibrium points of the system vary with the increase of flow speed. Besides the simple limit cycle response of period 1, there are also period-doubling responses and chaotic motions in the flutter system. The route leading to chaos in the aeroelastic model used here is the period-doubling bifurcation. The chaotic motions in the system occur only when the flow speed is higher than the linear divergent speed and the initial condition is very small. Moreover, the flow speed regions in which the system behaves chaos axe very narrow.     

Influence of friction and asymmetric freeplay on the limit cycle oscillation in aeroelastic system: An extended Hénon’s technique to temporal integration

Nonlinear effects such as friction and freeplay on the control surfaces can affect aeroelastic dynamics during flight. In particular, these nonlinearities can induce limit cycle oscillations (LCO), changing the system stability, and because of this it is essential to employ computational methods to predict this type of motion during the aircraft development cycle. In this context, the present article presents a matrix notation for describing the Hénon’s method used to reduce errors when considering piecewise linear nonlinearities in the numerical integration process. In addition, a new coordinate system is used to write the aeroelastic system of equations. The proposal defines a displacement vector with generalized and physical variables to simplify the computational implementation of the Hénon’s technique. Additionally, the article discusses the influence of asymmetric freeplay and friction on the LCO of an airfoil with control surface. The results show that the extended Hénon’s technique provides more accurate LCO predictions, that friction can change the frequency and amplitude of these motions, and the asymmetry of freeplay is important to determine the LCO behavior.     

适用于几何非线性气动弹性分析的结构动力学降阶模型方法研究

几何非线性是壁板颤振和大展弦比机翼气动弹性等问题的一个主要特征,在进行数值仿真分析时往往需要采用商业非线性有限元求解器,存在计算量大和耦合迭代策略不易控制等问题。本文发展了一种适用于几何非线性的结构动力学降阶模型(CSD-ROM),利用广义坐标的非线性多项式表征非线性内力,采用参数识别方法获取多项式系数,并通过增加额外的线性模态来改善模型预测精度。基于此方法,分别针对壁板颤振、切尖三角翼的CFD/CSD-ROM非线性颤振问题开展了时域响应分析。计算结果表明,通过CSD-ROM计算出的壁板颤振速度为590 m/s,颤振频率为174 Hz,与有限元结果误差分别为0.8%和1.7%。马赫数0.879时切尖三角翼的颤振动压预测结果为2.25 psi,与非线性有限元相比的误差为3.8%。本文采用的非线性和线性模态基底组合方法,在保证计算精度的基础上可有效降低训练样本数量,一定程度上可替代非线性有限元开展气动弹性分析。     

Transonic limit cycle oscillation behavior of an aeroelastic airfoil with free-play

The limit cycle oscillation (LCO) behaviors of an aeroelastic airfoil with free-play for different Mach numbers are studied. Euler equations are adopted to obtain the unsteady aerodynamic forces. Aerodynamic and structural describing functions are employed to deal with aerodynamic and structural nonlinearities, respectively. Then the flutter speed and flutter frequency are obtained by V-g method. The LCO solutions for the aeroelastic airfoil obtained by using dynamically linear aerodynamics agree well with those obtained directly by using nonlinear aerodynamics. Subsequently, the dynamically linear aerodynamics is assumed, and results show that the LCOs behave variously in different Mach number ranges. A subcritical bifurcation, consisting of both stable and unstable branches, is firstly observed in subsonic and high subsonic regime. Then in a narrow Mach number range, the unstable LCOs with small amplitudes turn to be stable ones dominated by the single degree of freedom flutter. Meanwhile, these LCOs can persist down to very low flutter speeds. When the Mach number is increased further, the stable branch turns back to be unstable. To address the reason of the stability variation for different Mach numbers at small amplitude LCOs, we find that the Mach number freeze phenomenon provides a physics-based explanation and the phase reversal of the aerodynamic forces will trigger the single degree of freedom flutter in the narrow Mach number range between the low and high Mach numbers of the chimney region. The high Mach number can be predicted by the freeze Mach number, and the low one can be estimated by the Mach number at which the aerodynamic center of the airfoil lies near its elastic axis. Influence of angle of attack and viscous effects on the LCO behavior is also discussed.     

超声速飞行器壁板非线性颤振响应分析的时域法与频域法对比研究

为考查基于假设模态法在时域中开展壁板非线性颤振分析的可行性,在相同的参数下,分别采用时域方法和频域方法研究了超声速飞行器壁板的非线性颤振响应,并从壁板的颤振幅值、颤振频率和颤振型态三个方面对时域和频域分析结果的一致性作了较详细的比较。首先,基于von Karman应变－位移关系和Mindlin板理论建立考虑几何非线性的壁板力学模型,应用一阶活塞理论分析壁板上单面承受的超声速准定常气动力,基于虚功原理和有限单元法推导壁板的运动微分方程。然后,用壁板的线性固有模态作为假设模态,减缩系统的自由度而得到降阶模型。采用四阶龙格-库塔法对降阶模型作时域数值积分,得到壁板的非线性颤振响应。另一方面,假设壁板的极限环颤振为简谐振荡,可对壁板的非线性刚度作等效线性化处理,进而在频域中直接在有限元（未降阶）模型的基础上分析壁板的颤振幅值、颤振频率和颤振型态。数值分析表明,当极限环颤振为简谐振荡时,时域方法和频域方法的计算结果符合一致。本文最后讨论了时域法和频域法应用在壁板非线性颤振分析中各自的优点和局限性。     

Nonlinear flutter behavior of a plate with motion constraints in subsonic flow

This paper is aimed at presenting the nonlinear flutter peculiarities of a cantilevered plate with motion-limiting constraints in subsonic flow. A non-smooth free-play structural nonlinearity is considered to model the motion constraints. The governing nonlinear partial differential equation is discretized in space and time domains by using the Galerkin method. The equilibrium points and their stabilities are presented based on qualitative analysis and numerical studies. The system loses its stability by flutter and undergoes the limit cycle oscillations (LCOs) due to the nonlinearity. A heuristic analysis scheme based on the equivalent linearization method is applied to theoretical analysis of the LCOs. The Hopf and two-multiple semi-stable limit cycle bifurcation bifurcations are supercritical or subcritical, which is dependent on the location of the motion constraints. For some special cases the bifurcations are, interestingly, both supercritical and subcritical. The influence of varying parameters on the dynamics is discussed in detail. The results predicted by the analysis scheme are in good agreement with the numerical ones.     

INCREMENTAL HARMONIC BALANCE METHOD FOR AIRFOIL FLUTTER WITH MULTIPLE STRONG NONLINEARITIES

The incremental harmonic balance method was extended to analyze the flutter of systems with multiple structural strong nonlinearities. The strongly nonlinear cubic plunging and pitching stiffness terms were considered in the flutter equations of two-dimensional airfoil. First, the equations were transferred into matrix form, then the vibration process was divided into the persistent incremental processes of vibration moments. And the expression of their solutions could be obtained by using a certain amplitude as control parameter in the harmonic balance process, and then the bifurcation, limit cycle flutter phenomena and the number of harmonic terms were analyzed. Finally, numerical results calculated by the Runge-Kutta method were given to verify the results obtained by the proposed procedure. It has been shown that the incremental harmonic method is effective and precise in the analysis of strongly nonlinear flutter with multiple structural nonlinearities.