Dynamic mode decomposition based analysis of flow over a sinusoidally pitching airfoil

TL;DR

This paper introduces a modified dynamic mode decomposition method to analyze flow over moving boundaries, specifically applied to sinusoidally pitching airfoils, enabling clearer insights into flow-induced oscillations.

Contribution

It presents a novel correction technique for DMD modes to account for moving boundaries, improving flow analysis accuracy.

Findings

Effective decomposition of flow over pitching airfoils.

Insights into flow-induced pitch oscillations.

Method enhances DMD applicability to moving boundary flows.

Abstract

Dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) has proven to be a valuable tool for the analysis of complex flow-fields but the application of this technique to flows with moving boundaries is not straightforward. This is due to the difficulty in accounting in the DMD formulation, for a body of non-zero thickness moving through the field of interest. This work presents a method for decomposing the flow on or near a moving boundary by a change of reference frame, followed by a correction to the computed modes that is determined by the frequency spectrum of the motion. The correction serves to recover the modes of the underlying flow dynamics, while removing the effect of change in reference frame. This method is applied to flow over sinusoidally pitching airfoils, and the DMD analysis is used to derive useful insights regarding flow-induced pitch oscillations of these airfoils.