Hydroelastic response and stability of a hydrofoil in viscous flow

Abstract

The objective of this research is to investigate the hydroelastic response and stability of a flexible hydrofoil in viscous flow. The focus is on viscous effects, such as laminar to turbulent transition and stall, on the fluid–structure interaction (FSI) response and hydroelastic stability of flexible hydrofoils. The numerical approach is based on the coupling between a commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solver, CFX, and a simple two-degrees-of-freedom (2-DOF) system that simulates the tip section bend and twist deformations of a cantelivered, rectangular hydrofoil. The hydrodynamic loading is assumed to be uniform in the spanwise direction, and the hydrofoil is assumed to undergo bend and twist deformation along the spanwise direction only. The CFD solver is first validated by comparing numerical predictions with experimental measurements of the lift, drag, and moment coefficients of a rigid NACA0012 hydrofoil over a wide range of Reynolds numbers and angles of attack. The coupled viscous FSI solver is then validated by comparing numerical predictions with experimental measurements of (i) the lift coefficient of a rigid (stainless steel) NACA66 hydrofoil and (ii) the tip section displacement of a flexible (POM Polyacetate) NACA66 hydrofoil with the same initial (un-deformed) geometry. The hydrodynamic responses of the rigid and flexible NACA66 hydrodfoils are compared to identify FSI effects in viscous flow, including transition, stall, and static divergence. The results show that the flexible hydrofoil undergoes a clockwise twist deformation because the center of pressure is to the left of the elastic axis (center of twist), which increases the effective angle of attack and moves the center of pressure toward the leading edge; the resultant increase in lift and moment will further increase the effective angle of attack until the twist capacity is exceeded, i.e. static divergence or material failure occurs. The results show that viscous effects tend to delay or suppress divergence because the center of pressure moves toward the midchord at high effective angles of attack due to large-scale flow separation, which significantly limits the twisting moment. However, viscous effects may lead to stall, buffeting, flutter, or resonance at high angles of attack due to periodic shedding of large-scale vortices.