Active vibration control using an inertial actuator with internal damping

Collocated direct velocity feedback with ideal point force actuators mounted on structures is unconditionally stable and generates active damping. When inertial actuators are used to generate the control force, the system can become unstable even for moderate velocity feedback gains due to an additional -180 degree phase lag introduced by the fundamental axial resonant mode of the inertial actuator. In this study a relative velocity sensor is used to implement an inner velocity feedback loop that generates internal damping in a lightweight, electrodynamic, inertial actuator. Simulation results for a model problem with the actuator mounted on a clamped plate show that, when internal relative velocity feedback is used in addition to a conventional external velocity feedback loop, there is an optimum combination of internal and external velocity feedback gains, which, for a given gain margin, maximizes vibration reduction. These predictions are validated in experiments with a specially built lightweight inertial actuator.     

Heavy flags undergo spontaneous oscillations in flowing water

By immersing a compliant yet self-supporting sheet into flowing water, we study a heavy, streamlined, and elastic body interacting with a fluid. We find that above a critical flow velocity a sheet aligned with the flow begins to flap with a Strouhal frequency consistent with animal locomotion. This transition is subcritical. Our results agree qualitatively with a simple fluid dynamical model that predicts linear instability at a critical flow speed. Both experiment and theory emphasize the importance of body inertia in overcoming the stabilizing effects of finite rigidity and fluid drag.     

Whirl and whip instabilities in rotor-bearing system considering a nonlinear force model

Linear models and synchronous response are generally adequate to describe and analyze rotors supported by hydrodynamic bearings. Hence, stiffness and damping coefficients can provide a good model for a wide range of situations. However, in some cases, this approach does not suffice to describe the dynamic behavior of the rotor-bearing system. Moreover, unstable motion occurs due to precessional orbits in the rotor-bearing system. This instability is called “oil whirl” or “oil whip”. The oil whirl phenomenon occurs when the journal bearings are lightly loaded and the shaft is whirling at a frequency close to one-half of rotor angular speed. When the angular speed of the rotor reaches approximately twice the natural frequency (first critical speed), the oil whip phenomenon occurs and remains even if the rotor angular speed increases. Its frequency and vibration mode correspond to the first critical speed. The main purpose of this paper is to validate a complete nonlinear solution to simulate the fluid-induced instability during run-up and run-down. A flexible rotor with a central disk under unbalanced excitation is modeled. A nonlinear hydrodynamic model is considered for short bearing and laminar flow. The effects of unbalance, journal-bearing parameters and rotor arrangement (vertical or horizontal) on the instability threshold are verified. The model simulations are compared with measurements at a real vertical power plant and a horizontal test rig.     

Velocity dependent inertial induction: An extension of Mach’s principle

In this article a model of inertial induction has been presented. According to this model the magnitude of the acceleration dependent inertia force comes out exactly as the product of the acceleration and inertial mass. The model also indicates that even uniform velocity gives rise to inertia force. However, the magnitude of the velocity dependent inertia force is exceedingly small but it causes a cosmological red shift whose order of magnitude is same as that of the observed values.     

Parallel flow in hele-shaw cells with ferrofluids

Parallel flow in a Hele-Shaw cell occurs when two immiscible liquids flow with relative velocity parallel to the interface between them. The interface is unstable due to a Kelvin-Helmholtz type of instability in which fluid flow couples with inertial effects to cause an initial small perturbation to grow. Large amplitude disturbances form stable solitons. We consider the effects of applied magnetic fields when one of the two fluids is a ferrofluid. The dispersion relation governing mode growth is modified so that the magnetic field can destabilize the interface even in the absence of inertial effects. However, the magnetic field does not affect the speed of wave propogation for a given wave number. We note that the magnetic field creates an effective interaction between the solitons.     

Dynamics of microscale pipes containing internal fluid flow: Damping, frequency shift, and stability

This paper initiates the theoretical analysis of microscale resonators containing internal flow, modelled here as microfabricated pipes conveying fluid, and investigates the effects of flow velocity on damping, stability, and frequency shift. The analysis is conducted within the context of classical continuum mechanics, and the effects of structural dissipation (including thermoelastic damping in hollow beams), boundary conditions, geometry, and flow velocity on vibrations are discussed. A scaling analysis suggests that slender elastomeric micropipes are susceptible to instability by divergence (buckling) and flutter at relatively low flow velocities of ∼10 m/s.     

Free vibration of a single-walled carbon nanotube containing a fluid flow using the Timoshenko beam model

The flexural vibration of the fluid-conveying single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) is derived by the Timoshenko beam model, including rotary inertia and transverse shear deformation. The effects of the flow velocity and the aspect ratio of length to diameter on the vibration frequency and mode shape of the SWCNT are analyzed. Results show that the effects of rotary inertia and transverse shear deformation result in a reduction of the vibration frequencies, especially for higher modes of vibration and short nanotubes. The frequency is also compared with the previous study based on Euler beam model. In addition, if the ratio of length to diameter increased to 60, the influence of the shear deformation and rotary inertia on the mode shape and the resonant frequencies can be neglected. However, the influence is very obvious when the ratio decreased to 20. As the flow velocity of the fluid increases in the vicinity of 2π, the SWCNT reveals the divergence instability. It regains stability when the flow velocity reaches about 9. As the velocity increases further, the SWCNT undergoes a coupled-mode flutter and results in a larger amplitude.     

The effects of rotation,tip mass,and hub radius on the stability of beck's column

The stability of a cantilever beam subjected to a follower force at its free end and rotating at a uniform angular velocity is investigated. The beam is assumed to be offset from the axis of rotation, carries a tip mass at its free end, and undergoes deflection in a direction perpendicular to the plane of rotation. The equations of motion are formulated within the Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam theories for the case of a Kelvin model viscoelastic beam. The associated adjoint boundary value problems are derived and appropriate adjoint variational principles are introduced. These variational principles are used for the purpose of determining approximately the values of the critical flutter load of the system as it depends upon its damping parameters, tip mass and its rotary inertia, hub radius, and speed of rotation. The variation of the critical flutter load with these parameters is revealed in a series of several graphs. The numerical results show that the critical load can be reduced significantly due to (a) the transverse and rotary inertia of the tip mass and (b) increasing values of the internal damping parameter associated with the transverse shear deformation of the rotating beam.     

Jeans type analysis of chemotactic collapse

We perform a linear dynamical stability analysis of a general hydrodynamic model of chemotactic aggregation [P.H. Chavanis, C. Sire, Physica A 384 (2007) 199]. Specifically, we study the stability of an infinite and homogeneous distribution of cells against “chemotactic collapse”. We discuss the analogy between the chemotactic collapse of biological populations and the gravitational collapse (Jeans instability) of self-gravitating systems. Our hydrodynamic model involves a pressure force which can take into account several effects like anomalous diffusion or the fact that the organisms cannot interpenetrate. We also take into account the degradation of the chemical which leads to a shielding of the interaction like for a Yukawa potential. Finally, our hydrodynamic model involves a friction force which quantifies the importance of inertial effects. In the strong friction limit, we obtain a generalized Keller–Segel model similar to the generalized Smoluchowski–Poisson system describing self-gravitating Langevin particles. For small frictions, we obtain a hydrodynamic model of chemotaxis similar to the Euler–Poisson system describing a self-gravitating barotropic gas. We show that an infinite and homogeneous distribution of cells is unstable against chemotactic collapse when the “velocity of sound” in the medium is smaller than a critical value. We study in detail the linear development of the instability and determine the range of unstable wavelengths, the growth rate of unstable modes and the damping rate, or the pulsation frequency, of the stable modes as a function of the friction parameter and shielding length. For specific equations of state, we express the stability criterion in terms of cell density.     

Motion of fluid and a solid core in a spherical cavity rotating in an external force field

The motion of a fluid in a rotating spherical cavity with a free light spherical body under the perturbing effect of an external force field perpendicular to the rotation axis is investigated experimentally. It is shown that the external field excites the lagging differential rotation of the core occupying the central position in the cavity under the action of a centrifugal force. The regularities of the averaged rotation of the body and the motion of fluid shaped as the Taylor-Proudman column are investigated. The sequential threshold manifestation of various instability types of the Taylor-Proudman column with an increase in the velocity of the differential body rotation is found. Initially a new type of instability manifests itself, and a two-dimensional system of vortexes elongated along the rotation axis is formed inside the column. Then the development of azimuthal two-dimensional waves at the column boundary is observed. It is shown that the Reynolds number calculated through the velocity of the differential body rotation determines the threshold transitions. A map of motion modes of a fluid in a spherical layer on a plane of dimensionless parameters is plotted.     

Hydrodynamic singularities and clustering in a freely cooling inelastic gas

We employ hydrodynamic equations to follow the clustering instability of a freely cooling dilute gas of inelastically colliding spheres into a well-developed nonlinear regime. We simplify the problem by dealing with a one-dimensional coarse-grained flow. We observe that at a late stage of the instability the shear stress becomes negligibly small, and the gas flows solely by inertia. As a result the flow formally develops a finite-time singularity, as the velocity gradient and the gas density diverge at some location. We argue that flow by inertia represents a generic intermediate asymptotic of unstable free cooling of dilute inelastic gases.     

Viscous potential flow analysis of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability with mass transfer and vaporization

Viscous potential flow analysis of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability with heat and mass transfer has been studied. A dispersion relation has been obtained. Stability criterion is given by a critical value of relative velocity. It has been found that heat and mass transfer has destabilizing effect on relative velocity when lower fluid viscosity is low while it has stabilizing effect when lower fluid viscosity is high. Various graphs have been plotted for relative velocity and growth rate. In statically unstable situation viscosity has stabilizing effect while in statically stable situation it has destabilizing effect.     

Hall effects on unsteady hydromagnetic flow past an eccentrically rotating porous disk in a rotating fluid

Hall effects on unsteady hydromagnetic flow past a rotating disk are investigated when the fluid at infinity rotates about non-coincident axes. The rotation of the fluid at infinity changes impulsively. It is found that at large time the steady state is reached through inertial oscillations. The frequency of these oscillations first increases, reaches a maximum and then decreases with increase in Hall parameter.     

Stability characteristics of hyper-concentration flow in open channel

The flow instability is related to many engineering problems and belongs to a wide-ranging research field. When the problem on the transition from the laminar to the turbulence caused by the instability of the laminar is studied, the “neutral line” and the critical Reynolds number are always taken as the criterion to judge whether a certain kind of flow is stable, whose corresponding flow medium is the clear water, that is, the single-phase Newtonian fluid. And it is not studied in the traditional instability theory that the hyper-concentration flow widely exists in rivers. This shortage can be covered by this research. Study shows that the instability of non-Newtonian fluid such as hyper-concentration fluid, compared with Newtonian fluid such as clear water, is influenced by not only Reynolds number, the ratio of the inertia force and the viscous force, but also many other factors such as the sediment concentration, the concentration distribution, the grain size, the volumetric weight of the sediment and so on, which make the mechanical principle even more complex. So the results of the research can supply the scientific basis for the explanations of “slurrying river”, the turbulence intensity of the flow carrying sediment and the variance of the turbulence structure.     

Effect of scalar nonlinearity on zonal flow generation by Rossby waves

Effects of scalar nonlinearity on the generation of zonal flow by Rossby waves in shallow rotating fluid are considered. Zonal flows are generated via the action of Reynolds stress due to vector nonlinearity together with the effects of scalar nonlinearity. It is shown that the scalar nonlinearity reduces the amplitude threshold of the zonal flow instability. In addition, it increases the range of wave vectors of unstable modes subjected to the instability. The growth rate of the instability as a function of the spectrum of primary waves is calculated. The spectrum is assumed to be arbitrary with emphasizing the case of two monochromatic waves.     

Stability analysis of a rotor–bearing system with time-varying bearing stiffness due to finite number of balls and unbalanced force

Previous investigations have indicated that the finite number of balls can cause the bearing stiffness to vary periodically. However, effects of unbalanced force in a rotor–bearing system on the bearing stiffness have not received sufficient attention. The present work reveals that the unbalanced force can also make the bearing stiffness vary periodically. The parametric excitations from the time-varying bearing stiffness can cause instability and severe vibration under certain operating conditions. Therefore, the determination of the operating conditions of parametric instability is crucial to the design of high speed rotating machinery. In this paper, an extended Jones–Harris stiffness model is presented to ascertain the stiffness of the angular contact ball bearing considering five degrees of freedom. Stability analysis of a rigid rotor–bearing system is performed utilizing the discrete state transition matrix (DSTM) method. The effects of unbalanced force, bearing loads and damping on the instability regions are discussed thoroughly. Investigations mainly show that the time-varying bearing stiffness fluctuates sinusoidally due to finite number of balls and unbalanced force. The locations and widths of the instability regions caused by these two parametric excitations differ distinctly. Unbalanced force could change the widths of the instability regions, but without altering their central positions. The axial and radial loads of the bearing only change the positions of the instability regions, without affecting their widths. Besides, damping can reduce the widths of the instability regions.     

Analytical model for viscous damping and the spring force for perforated planar microstructures acting at both audible and ultrasonic frequencies

The paper presents a model for the squeezed film damping, the resistance of the holes, and the corresponding spring forces for a periodic perforated microstructure including the effects of compressibility, inertia, and rarefied gas. The viscous damping and spring forces are obtained by using the continuity equation. The analytical formula for the squeezed film damping is applied to analyze the response of an ultrasonic transducer. The inclusion of these effects in a model significantly improves the agreement with measured results. Finally, it is shown that the frequency dependence of the total damping and total spring force for a cell are very similar to those corresponding to a rectangular open microstructure without holes. A separate analysis reveals the importance of each particular correction. The most important is the compressibility correction; the inertia has to be considered only for determining the spring force and the damping force for sufficiently high frequencies.     

A non-linear fluid force model for vortex-induced vibration of an elastic cylinder

Even under the assumption of a sinusoidal lift and drag force at a single frequency for a stationary cylinder in a cross flow, higher harmonics that represent non-linearity in the fluid-structure interaction process are present. This fact is considered in the formulation of a non-linear fluid force model for a freely vibrating cylinder in a cross flow. The force model is developed based on an iterative process and the modal analysis approach. The fluid force components in the model can be evaluated from measured vibration data with the help of the auto-regressive moving averaging (ARMA) technique. An example is used to illustrate that non-linear (higher order) force components are present at resonance, even for a case with relatively weak fluid-structure interaction. Further analysis reveals that the fluid force components are dependent on structural damping and mass ratio. The non-linear fluid force model is further modified by taking these considerations into account and is used to predict the dynamic characteristics of a freely vibrating cylinder over a range of Reynolds numbers, mass and structural damping ratios. On comparison with measurements obtained from four different experiments and predictions made by previous single-degree-of-freedom model, good agreement is found over a wide range of these parameters.     

Nonlinear parametric instability of wind turbine wings

Nonlinear rotor dynamic is characterized by parametric excitation of both linear and nonlinear terms caused by centrifugal and Coriolis forces when formulated in a moving frame of reference. Assuming harmonically varying support point motions from the tower, the nonlinear parametric instability of a wind turbine wing has been analysed based on a two-degrees-of-freedom model with one modal coordinate representing the vibrations in the blade direction and the other vibrations in edgewise direction. The functional basis for the eigenmode expansion has been taken as the linear undamped fixed-base eigenmodes. It turns out that the system becomes unstable at certain excitation amplitudes and frequencies. If the ratio between the support point motion and the rotational frequency of the rotor is rational, the response becomes periodic, and Floquet theory may be used to determine instability. In reality the indicated frequency ratio may be irrational in which case the response is shown to be quasi-periodic, rendering the Floquet theory useless. Moreover, as the excitation frequency exceeds the eigenfrequency in the edgewise direction, the response may become chaotic. For this reason stability of the system has in all cases been evaluated based on a Lyapunov exponent approach. Stability boundaries are determined as a function of the amplitude and frequency of the support point motion, the rotational speed, damping ratios and eigenfrequencies in the blade and edgewise directions.     

Stability of fluid flow past a membrane

The stability of the flow of a fluid past a solid membrane of infinitesimal thickness is investigated using a linear stability analysis. The system consists of two fluids of thicknesses R and H R and bounded by rigid walls moving with velocities and , and separated by a membrane of infinitesimal thickness which is flat in the unperturbed state. The fluids are described by the Navier-Stokes equations, while the constitutive equation for the membrane incorporates the surface tension, and the effect of curvature elasticity is also examined for a membrane with no surface tension. The stability of the system depends on the dimensionless strain rates and in the two fluids, which are defined as and for a membrane with surface tension , and and for a membrane with zero surface tension and curvature elasticity K. In the absence of fluid inertia, the perturbations are always stable. In the limit , the decay rate of the perturbations is O(k ³ ) smaller than the frequency of the fluctuations. The effect of fluid inertia in this limit is incorporated using a small wave number asymptotic analysis, and it is found that there is a correction of smaller than the leading order frequency due to inertial effects. This correction causes long wave fluctuations to be unstable for certain values of the ratio of strain rates and ratio of thicknesses H. The stability of the system at finite Reynolds number was calculated using numerical techniques for the case where the strain rate in one of the fluids is zero. The stability depends on the Reynolds number for the fluid with the non-zero strain rate, and the parameter , where is the surface tension of the membrane. It is found that the Reynolds number for the transition from stable to unstable modes, , first increases with , undergoes a turning point and a further increase in the results in a decrease in . This indicates that there are unstable perturbations only in a finite domain in the plane, and perturbations are always stable outside this domain. Received: 29 May 1997 / Revised: 9 October 1997 / Accepted: 26 November 1997