Nonlinear aeroelastic analysis of a damped elastica-aerofoil system

This work formulates a comprehensive model of a nonlinear aeroelastic system developed for the analysis of complex aeroelastic phenomena related to structural and aerodynamic nonlinearities. The system is formulated as a two-dimensional cantilevered elastica with a rigid airfoil section firmly attached at its tip undergoing large displacements in the crosswind conditions. The system can demonstrate a wide range of domain specific as well as coupled nonlinear phenomena. The structural model is developed by means of the Rayleigh–Ritz approach, with shape functions discretizing both vertical and horizontal displacements and Lagrangian multipliers enforcing inextensibility. Damping is modeled based on a non-local strain-based mechanism in the Kelvin–Voigt arrangement. The resulting structural model is examined through studying the behavior under a follower load and with a tip-attached tendon under tension to study the shape convergence properties and the alignment of the results with known characteristics in the literature. The ONERA dynamic stall model is used to model the aerodynamics of the problem to accurately capture post-stall behavior at large deformations. The LCO responses of the aeroelastic problem are evaluated through time-marched simulations, and the combined airspeed–damping interactions are studied in this manner.