Piecewise constrained optimization harmonic balance method for predicting the limit cycle oscillations of an airfoil with various nonlinear structures

A method is proposed to calculate the periodic solutions of piecewise nonlinear systems. The method is based on analytical derivation of nonlinear multi-harmonic equations of motion. Since periodic variations of nonlinear forces are characterized by different states, the vibration cycle is broken into sequential transition intervals according to the instant sets of state transitions. Analytical formulations of the harmonic coefficients of the nonlinear forces and its derivatives with respect to the harmonic coefficients of displacements are developed. Sensitivities of the harmonic coefficients of periodic solutions are determined for constructing explicit expressions for vibration amplitude levels as a function of structural parameters. Numerical investigations of the limit cycle oscillations and its sensitivities of an airfoil with different piecewise nonlinearities have been performed. The results show that the developed method is capable of determining the periodic solutions and its sensitivities with respect to the structural parameters. In order to guarantee time continuity of the nonlinear force, for the hysteresis model it is not right to track the periodic solutions by using the preload or freeplay as the continuation parameters.