Experimental Campaign on a Generic Model for Fluid-Structure Interaction Studies (Mechanical Project)



Fluid-structure interactions appear in many industrial applications in the field of energy technology. As the components are more and more pushed to higher performance, taking fluid-structure interaction phenomena into account has a great impact on the design as well as in the cost and safety. Internal flows related to propulsion systems in aerodynamics area are of our interest; and particularly aero-elasticity and flutter phenomena.


A new 2D flexible generic model, so called bump, based on previous studies at the division of Heat and Power Technology about fluid-structure interactions is here presented. The overall goal is to enhance comprehension of flutter phenomenon. The current study exposes a preliminary experimental campaign regarding mechanical behaviour on two different test objects: an existing one made of polyurethane and a new one of aluminium.


The setup is built in such a way that it allows the bumps to oscillate until 500Hz. The objective is to reach this frequency range by remaining in the first bending mode shape which is indeed considered as fundamental for flutter study. In this manner being as close as possible to the bending flutter configuration in high-subsonic and transonic flows will provide a deeper understanding of the shock wave boundary layer interaction and the force phase angle related to it.


The results have pointed out that the bumps can reach a frequency of 250Hz by remaining in the first bending mode shape. The one in polyurethane can even reach frequency up to 350Hz; however, amplitude is higher than the theoretical one fixed to 0.5mm. Then unsteady pressure measurements for one operating point have been performed based on using recessed-mounted pressure transducers with Kulite fast response sensors.


Variation amplitudes and phases of the unsteady pressure are thus correlated with the vibrations of the model. The operating point has been defined with respect to previous studies on the same static geometric model in order to use steady state base line; the steady flows appear consistent with each other. The results have pointed out that the shock wave induces strong amplification of the steady static pressure; however, this rise decreases when the reduced frequency increases. Finally some elements regarding propagating waves are suggested in the analysis for deeper investigations on such complex phenomena.
Source: KTH
Author: Ferria, Hakim


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