Frequency and Amplitude Modulations of a Moving Structure in Unsteady Non-Homogeneous Density Fluid Flow

Abstract

A fluid-structure interaction’s effects on the dynamics of a hydrofoil immersed in a fluid flow of non-homogeneous density is presented and analyzed. A linearized model is applied to solve the fluid-structure coupled problem. Fluid density variations along the hydrofoil upper surface, based on the sinusoidal cavity oscillations, are used. It is shown that for the steady cavity case, the value of cavity length Lp does not affect the amplitude of the hydrofoil displacements. However, the natural frequency of the structure increases according to Lp. In the unsteady cavity case, the variations of the added mass and added damping (induced by the fluid density rate of change) generate frequency and amplitude modulations in the hydrofoil dynamics. To analyse this phenomena, the empirical mode decomposition, a well established data-driven method to handle such modulations, is used.