Research on the influence of unsteady cavitation on the dynamics structures of a twisted hydrofoil based on variational mode decomposition method

Cavitation will produce complex dynamic effects on hydrofoil structures. In this paper, the effects of unsteady cavitation conditions on the dynamics of twisted hydrofoil structures are studied by using variational mode decomposition (VMD) and pearson correlation coefficient (PCC), etc. The research results indicate that there is a certain synergy between the flow field pressure pulsation signal and the structural field stress-strain signal in the frequency distribution of the hydrofoil under cavitation conditions. The second-order center frequency of ΔP1 and the first-order center frequency of ΔP7 are close to the second-order center frequency of the stress-strain signal of the hydrofoil (1202.4Hz). Unsteady cavitation can lead to the increase of the high effective force region of the hydrofoil, especially the high effective force region connecting the leading edge and the root, which is the reason for the degradation of the hydrofoil performance. Cavitation increases the natural frequency of the hydrofoil, but has no obvious effect on the natural mode of the hydrofoil. The research results of this study reveal the effect of unsteady cavitation on the dynamics of hydrofoil structure, and provide important theoretical support for the optimization design and performance improvement of hydrofoil structure. •Perform frequency correlation analysis on pressure pulsation and structural response signals using VMD.•Perform pearson correlation coefficient and power spectrum analysis on two signals.•Revealing the influence mechanism of unsteady cavitation on the response of hydrofoil structures.