Aeroelastic Limit-Cycle Oscillations resulting from Aerodynamic Non-Linearities

Abstract

Aerodynamic non-linearities, such as shock waves, boundary layer separation or boundary layer transition, may cause an amplitude limitation of the oscillations induced by the fluid flow around a structure. These aeroelastic limit-cycle oscillations (LCOs) resulting from aerodynamic non-linearities have been studied numerically in this PhD thesis. A frequency domain-based method, called the amplitude-dependent p-k (ADePK) method, has been developed to study the bifurcation behaviour of the LCO solutions. From several extensive (structural) parameter studies, it was found that aerodynamic non-linearities, especially shock wave motions, can lead to limit-cycle oscillations that occur already below the linearly predicted flutter boundary.