Experimental Aerodynamics

Lecture 5: Vortex shedding and buffeting G. Dimitriadis

Experimental Aerodynamics

Buffeting
! All structures exposed to a wind have the tendency to vibrate. ! These vibrations are normally of small amplitude and have stochastic character ! They are by unsteadiness in the flow around the structure ! There are two types of unsteadiness:
! Unsteadiness in the oncoming free stream ! Unsteadiness due to flow separation around the structure

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Buffeting examples

Buffeting of a rigid rectangular wing with 2 degrees of freedom

Buffeting of a flexible Delta wing

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Turbulence in the free stream

! Unsteadiness in the free stream is generally caused by natural turbulence ! In the atmosphere this turbulence is known as atmospheric turbulence and is related to the earths boundary layer. ! Wind tunnels always have a small amount of natural turbulence; in the ULg tunnel, the natural turbulence is of the order of 0.2% of the free stream airspeed. ! Flow unsteadiness causes unsteady aerodynamic forces which excite the structure.
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Von Karman Spectrum

! The frequency content of atmospheric turbulence is usually modelled using the Von Karman spectrum
2 !11 (" ) = # g

L 1 2 5/6 $% % L' ' 1 + 1.339 " ) & V( * & (

2

Longitudinal turbulence

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! Where ! is the angular frequency, L is the length scale of atmospheric turbulence, V is the aircrafts airspeed, "g is the turbulence intensity

8% L' 1 + 1.339" 3& V( 2 L Lateral turbulence ! 22 (" ) = # g 2 11/ 6 $% % L' ' 1 + 1.339 " ) & V( * & (

Von Karman example

Von Karman spectrum at an airspeed of 200m/s and "g=2.1. It can be seen that most of the power is concentrated at very low frequencies, less than 1Hz. The power at frequencies of 10Hz or more is very low
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! Non-streamlined bodies and streamlined bodies at high angles of attack are characterized by flow separation ! Flow separation generally causes the flow to become turbulent and, therefore, unsteady. ! Again, separation-induced flow unsteadiness causes unsteady aerodynamic forces. ! These forces in turn excite the structure.
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Separation-induced turbulence

Flow separation

Separated flow behind truncated pyramid

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Separated flow behind circular cylinder

Structural response
! Both free stream turbulence and separated flow have characteristic frequency spectra. ! The structure itself has eigenmodes with characteristic eigenfrequencies (or natural frequencies). ! It follows that the structures response amplitude depends on the frequency content of the separated flow. ! If the latter coincides with one of the natural frequencies of the structure, resonance can occur, leading to large amplitude oscillations.
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The frequency content of the separated flow depends on the Reynolds Number.

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Reynolds number dependence videos

Re=272
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Re=271, 594, 2902

Strouhal number
! The Strouhal number is a measure of the unsteadiness of the flow. ! It is defined as ! Where Str is the Strouhal number, fs is the fundamental frequency of the flow, D is a characteristic cross-flow dimension and U is the free stream airspeed
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fs D Str = U

Str and Re
! The Strouhal number also depends on the Reynolds number but less strongly than the frequency
Strouhal number for circular cylinders

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Str for circular cylinder

! For low Re values (under Re=500) the Str dependence on Re can be approximated by: " 19.7 % ! For Re between 500 and 105, Str can be taken as a constant equal to 0.2. ! This means that, as the airspeed increases, so does the frequency of the unsteady flow
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Str = 0.198 $ 1 ! ' # Re &

2D cylinder with 1-DOF

Assume that L>>D so that the flow is nearly 2D One degree of freedom in y

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! The structural equation of motion is of the form 2 !! ! + !n y=0 y + ! n" y

Equation of motion

! Where !n is the wind-off natural frequency and " is the wind-off damping ratio. ! When the wind is turned on the equation of motion becomes
2 !! ! y + ! n! y + ! n y = l (t )

! Where l(t) is the lift force acting on the cylinder

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Lift force
! The unsteady lift force can be written as ! Where cl is the sectional lift coefficient and !s is the separated flow fundamental frequency, given by the Strouhal number,
U ! s = 2" Str D 1 l (t ) = !U 2 Dcl cos" s t 2

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Response amplitude
! The steady state response will be of the form
y(t ) = Y1 sin ! s t + Y2 cos! s t

1 2 2 ! n"! sY2 sin ! st + ! n Y1 sin ! s t + ! n Y2 cos! s t = #U 2 Dcl cos! s t 2

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!! s2Y1 sin ! s t ! ! s2Y2 cos! s t + ! n"! sY1 cos! s t !

! Where Y1,2 are constants. The response amplitude is simply Y=(Y1+Y2)1/2. The equation of motion becomes

Amplitude values
! After harmonic balancing:
2 s 2 2 n 2 2 !! s2Y1 ! ! n"! sY2 + ! n Y1 = 0

! or

1 !! Y + ! n"! sY1 + ! Y = #U 2 Dcl 2 " %" 0 % Y '$ 1 ' = $ 1 '$ Y2 ' $ !U 2 Dcl & $ &# # 2 % ' ' ' &

" 2 2 ! ! ! !! n!" s s $ n 2 2 $ ! !" ! ! ! n s # n s

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Solution
! Y $ 1 # 1 &= 2 2 2 2 Y & # 2 % (! n ' ! s ) + (! n"! s ) "

! 2 2 ! ' ! ! n"! s s # n # '! "! ! 2 ' ! 2 n s n s "

$! 0 &# 1 &# #U 2 Dcl %# " 2

$ & & & %

! # # # # =# # # # # "

( (

1 #U 2 Dcl! n"! s 2 2 2 2 2 (!n ' ! s ) + (!n"! s ) 1 2 #U 2 Dcl (! n ' ! s2 ) 2 2 2 2 2 ! ' ! + ! "! ( n s ) ( n s)

) )

$ & & & & & & & & & %

So that the maximum amplitude is obtained when

dY =0 d! s

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Maximum amplitude
! Working out the algebra gives the condition for maximum amplitude: ! Or
2 2 2 2 (! s2 ! ! n + ! ) n! = 0
2

!s = !n

" 1! 2

! Which occurs when

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D #2 Ures = "n 1 ! 2! Str 2

! The result shown above assumes that the structures response frequency is equal to the Strouhal frequency. ! This is not always the case. Consider that the airspeed increases continuously from 0. ! When it reaches Ures, the cylinder will resonate. Any further small increases in airspeed will not affect the response frequency. ! This phenomenon is called lock-in: the cylinders response frequency locks in to the systems resonant frequency for a certain range of airspeeds higher than the resonance airspeed.
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Lock-in

Lock-in diagram
!n 1 ! " 2 / 2 !s

1 Lock-in
D Str

"n 1 ! # 2 / 2
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2!U

Practical Session
! The ULg wind tunnel contains a circular cylinder with a diameter of 36mm. The cylinder is mounted on the lift-drag balance. ! The cylinder is instrumented with an accelerometer near the tip and a hot wire sensor in the wake. ! Carry out a wind-off modal test to determine the wind-off natural frequency and damping ratio ! Carry out wind-on tests:
! What is the resonance frequency and the resonance airspeed? ! How do they compare with the predictions? ! How large is the lock-in region?

Experimental Aerodynamics