Performance enhancement of wing-based piezoaeroelastic energy harvesting through freeplay nonlinearity

We investigate experimentally how controlled freeplay nonlinearity affects harvesting energy from a wing-based piezoaeroelastic energy harvesting system. This system consisits of a rigid airfoil which is supported by a nonlinear torsional spring （freeplay） in the pitch degree of freedom and a linear fiexural spring in the plunge degree of freedom. By attaching a piezoelectric material （PSI-5A4E） to the plunge degree of freedom, we can convert aeroelastic vibrations to electrical energy. The focus of this study is placed on the effects of the freeplay nonlinearity gap on the behavior of the harvester in terms of cut-in speed and level of harvested power. Although the freeplay nonlinearity may result in subcritical Hopf bifurcations （catastrophic for real aircrafts）, harvesting energy at low wind speeds is beneficial for designing piezoaeroelastic systems. It is demonstrated that increasing the freeplay nonlinearity gap can decrease the cut-in speed through a subcritical instability and gives the possibility to harvest energy at low wind speeds. The results also demonstrate that an optimum value of the load resistance exists, at which the level of the harvested power is maximized.

Bifurcation and chaos analysis for aeroelastic airfoil with freeplay structural nonlinearity in pitch

The dynamics character of a two degree-of-freedom aeroelastic airfoil with combined freeplay and cubic stiffness nonlinearities in pitch submitted to supersonic and hypersonic flow has been gaining significant attention. The Poincare mapping method and Floquet theory are adopted to analyse the limit cycle oscillation flutter and chaotic motion of this system. The result shows that the limit cycle oscillation flutter can be accurately predicted by the Floquet multiplier. The phase trajectories of both the pitch and plunge motion are obtained and the results show that the plunge motion is much more complex than the pitch motion. It is also proved that initial conditions have important influences on the dynamics character of the airfoil system. In a certain range of airspeed and with the same system parameters, the stable limit cycle oscillation, chaotic and multi-periodic motions can be detected under different initial conditions. The figure of the Poincare section also approves the previous conclusion.

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 non- linearity of the airfoil section＇s freeplay. There are two crit- ical 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 Poincar6 map is constructed for the limit cycle os- cillations by using piecewise-linear solutions with and with- out contact in the system. Through analysis of the Poincar6 map, a series of equations which can determine the frequen- cies of period-1 limit cycle oscillations at any flight veloc- ity are derived. Finally, these analytic results are compared to the results of numerical simulations, and a good agree- ment 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. More- over, there exist multi-periods limit cycle oscillations and even complicated ＂chaotic＂ oscillations may occur, which are usually found in smooth nonlinear dynamic systems.

Nonlinear aeroelastic analysis of a twin-tail boom UAV with rudder freeplay nonlinearities

The issue of nonlinear structural freeplays in aircraft has always been a significant con-cern.This study investigates the aeroelastic characteristics of a twin-tail boom Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV)with simultaneous freeplay nonlinearity in its left and right rudders.A comprehen-sive Limit Cycle Oscillation(LCO)solution route is proposed for complex aircraft with multiple freeplays,which can consider both accuracy and effciency.For the first time,this study reveals the unique LCO characteristics exhibited by twin-tail boom UAVs with rudder freeplays and pro-vides simulations and explanations of interesting phenomena observed during actual flight.The governing equations are established using the free-interface component mode synthesis method,and the LCOs of the system are mainly solved through the improved time-domain numerical con-tinuation method and frequency-domain numerical continuation method.Furthermore,the study investigates the influence of the left and right rudder freeplay size ratio on the LCO characteristics.The results demonstrate that the twin-tail boom UAV exhibits two stable LCO types:close and dif-fering left and right rudder amplitudes.The proposed method successfully describes the complete LCO behaviors of the system.Overall,this study makes significant contributions to our understand-ing of the aeroelastic behavior of twin-tail boom UAVs with rudder freeplays.

Nonlinear flutter wind tunnel test and numerical analysis of folding fins with freeplay nonlinearities

The flutter characteristics of folding control fins with freeplay are investigated by numer- ical simulation and flutter wind tunnel tests. Based on the characteristics of the structures, fins with different freeplay angles are designed. For a 0° angle of attack, wind tunnel tests of these fins are conducted, and vibration is observed by accelerometers and a high-speed camera. By the expansion of the connected relationships, the governing equations of fit for the nonlinear aeroelastic analysis are established by the free-interface component mode synthesis method. Based on the results of the wind tunnel tests, the flutter characteristics of fins with different freeplay angles are analyzed. The results show that the vibration divergent speed is increased, and the divergent speed is higher than the flutter speed of the nominal linear system. The vibration divergent speed is increased along with an increase in the freeplay angle. The developed free-interface component mode synthesis method could be used to establish governing equations and to analyze the characteristics of nonlinear aeroe- lastic systems. The results of the numerical simulations and the wind tunnel tests indicate the same trends and critical velocities.

Nonlinear system identification framework of folding fins with freeplay using backbone curves

Due to wear and manufacturing tolerance,the freeplay is unavoidable in the hinges of folding fins,which exerts significant effects on the aerodynamic characteristics.This paper proposes a backbone-curve-based framework for the dynamical identification of folding fins containing the freeplay nonlinearity.With no need to measure the input force signal and the response signals of nonlinear related Degrees of Freedom(DOFs),the proposed method is more direct and elegant than most existing nonlinear identification approaches,and it contains three steps:Firstly,the underlying linear model of the folding fin structure is obtained through the modal test on its linear sub-parts,and then,the harmonic approximation solves the analytical expressions of the backbone curves of measurable DOFs.Secondly,response data measured from the sine-sweep test are used to extract the fitting points of backbone curves for these DOFs.Finally,the curve fitting approach is applied to identify the freeplay parameters.A series of numerical experiments verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.A real-life folding fin structure is also employed to illustrate how the method can be applied.These examples demonstrate that the identification framework can give an accurate dynamic model of the folding fin structure.