New insights on limit cycle oscillations due to control surface freeplay

New insights on limit cycle oscillations due to control surface freeplay

Nicola Fonzi, Sergio Ricci, Eli Livne

Abstract. A new experimental wind tunnel test-bed has been developed for the study of limit cycle oscillations induced by control surface freeplay. Studies of the effects of a single nonlinearity, made possible by the new horizontal tail plane, are described here. Several effects are considered, starting from a reference configuration: the effect of changes in inertia and stiffness, a time-varying gap size, and an aerodynamic preload due to an angle of attack. Both time marching simulations and describing functions analytical methods have been used to understand the experimental measurements and study the capability of the methods to capture the physical behavior. Good agreement was found in all cases and physical insights are gained from the mathematical models. Limitations of the analytical tools are also addressed, focusing on the important difference between the self-excited dynamics of the nonlinear system and its forced response to external excitations.

Keywords
Aeroelasticity, Flutter, Limit Cycle Oscillation

Published online 11/1/2023, 4 pages
Copyright © 2023 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA

Citation: Nicola Fonzi, Sergio Ricci, Eli Livne, New insights on limit cycle oscillations due to control surface freeplay, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 37, pp 38-41, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644902813-9

The article was published as article 9 of the book Aeronautics and Astronautics

Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.

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