Supercritical and subcritical Hopf bifurcation and limit cycle oscillations of an airfoil with cubic nonlinearity in supersonic\hypersonic flow

Abstract

In this paper, the Hopf bifurcations and limit cycle oscillations (LCOs) of an airfoil with cubic nonlinearity in supersonic\hypersonic flow are investigated. The harmonic balance method and multivariable Floquet theory are applied to analyze the LCOs of the airfoil. Four distinct cases of the LCOs response are detected in this system: (I) supercritical Hopf bifurcation, (II) a single subcritical Hopf bifurcation, (III) two subcritical Hopf bifurcations, and (IV) no Hopf bifurcation. Furthermore, the parameter variations domains separating the supercritical and subcritical Hopf bifurcations are presented using singularity theory.