Flutter and Limit Cycle Oscillation Suppression Using Linear and Nonlinear Tuned Vibration Absorbers

Aircraft are more than ever pushed to their limits for performance reasons. Consequently, they become increasingly nonlinear and they are more prone to undergo aeroelastic limit cycle oscillations. Structural nonlinearities affect aircraft such as the F-16, which can undergo store-induced limit cycle oscillations (LCOs). Furthermore, transonic buzz can lead to LCOs because of moving shock waves in transonic flight conditions on many aircraft. This study presents a numerical investigation of passive LCO suppression on a typical aeroelastic system with pitch and plunge degrees of freedom and a hardening stiffness nonlinearity. The absorber used is made of a piezoelectric patch glued to the plunge springs and connected to a resistor and an inductance forming a RLC circuit. A mechanical tuned mass damper absorber of similar configuration is also considered. The piezoelectric absorber features significant advantages in terms of size, weight and tuning convenience. The results show that both types of absorber increase the linear flutter speed of the system in a similar fashion but, when optimal, they lead to a sub-critical bifurcation while a super-critical bifurcation was observed without absorber. Finally, it is shown that the addition of a properly tuned nonlinear spring (mechanical absorber) or capacitor (piezoelectric absorber) can restore the super-criticality of the bifurcation. The tuning of the nonlinearity is carried out using numerical continuation.