The paper reports on interferometric measurements of flow over a NACA0015 airfoil model during flutter limit cycle oscillations. The airfoil model is fixed on an elastic support allowing motion with two degrees of freedom — pitch and plunge. The structural mass and stiffness matrices can be tuned to certain extent, so that the eigenfrequencies of the two modes approach as needed. The model is equipped with dynamic pressure probes and sensors measuring the airfoil vertical position. The flow field around the airfoil was measured by Mach-Zehnder interferometer and registered using a high-speed camera synchronously with the mechanical vibration and pressure measurements. The Mach number of the incident airflow was gradually increased and the response of the aeroelastic system to initial impulse measured, until the flutter instability onset occurred. Flutter boundaries were evaluated for various additional masses attached (i.e., for various plunging mode eigenfrequencies), and post-critical behavior of the system investigated. The interferograms recorded by the high-speed camera were postprocessed, yielding pressure distribution around the airfoil during its vibration and an estimate of the total aerodynamic force and energy transfer from the airflow to the structure.
Abstract. The paper focuses on investigation of the unsteady subsonic airflow past an elastically supported airfoil for subcritical flow velocities and during the onset of the flutter instability. A physical model of the NACA0015 airfoil has been designed and manufactured, allowing motion with two degrees of freedom: pitching (rotation about the elastic axis) and plunging (vertical motion). The structural mass and stiffness matrix can be tuned to certain extent, so that the natural frequencies of the two modes approach as needed. The model was placed in the measuring section of the wind tunnel in the aerodynamic laboratory of the Institute of Thermomechanics in Nový Knín, and subjected to low Mach number airflow up to the flow velocities when self-oscillation reach amplitudes dangerous for the structural integrity of the model. The motion of the airfoil was registered by a high-speed camera, with synchronous measurement of the mechanic vibration and discrete pressure sensors on the surface of the airfoil. The results of the measurements are presented together with numerical simulation results, based on a finite volume CFD model of airflow past a vibrating airfoil.
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