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ArbitrarySurfaceMotion:

TheWagnerFunction
Assumethattheresponsetoanarbitraryairfoilmotioninthelinearregimecanbebuiltupasasuperpositionof
responsestoaseriesofstepchangesinnormalwash.
Responseofalinearsystem:IndicialAdmittance
Applyaunitstepforce1(t)tothemassminthe+vexdirection:

Thesystemwasinitiallyinrestatunloadedequilibrium:
.
Themotionisdescribedby

Generalsolution: where

Applyingtheinitialconditions,weget: .
Thustheresponseofthelinearsystemtoaunitstepfunctionis:

.Thisiscalled"indicialadmittance".TheparticularfunctionalformofAdependsonthe
linearsystembeingconsidered.Theresponsetoanarbitraryforcef(t)canbebuiltupfromthis.


ResponseattimetoasteploadDfappliedattimet+Dtis:
Summingup,

As ,
ThisistheDuhamelintegral,intermsoftheindicialadmittanceandthederivativesoftheforcingfunction.The
forcingfunctionmaynotbeavailableinanalyticform,soweneedanalternateform:
Integratebyparts,using:

where ,sothat
,sothat

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7/4/2016 wagner

Notethat:

Substituting,

Thusiftheindicialadmittancefunctionisknown,thesystemresponsecanbedeterminedfromthis.

IndicialAdmittanceforanairfoilinpitch+plunge:WagnerFunction
UnsteadyliftassociatedwiththeTheodorsenfunctionacsatthequarterchord,andisduetothenormalwashat
3/4chord.Takethenormalwashasastepfunction:

.TaketheFouriertransformofw:

.Circulatoryliftcoefficientis:

(takingtheinverseFouriertransform).Define asthenumberofsemichordstraveledintimet.Then

.Thiscanbewritenas wheref(s)istheWagnerfunction.

Also, .
Note:TheWagnerfunctionistheindicialadmittanceforthenormalizedcirculatoryliftassociatedwithastep
changeinnormalwashatthe3/4chord.

Thisisapproximatedbythefollowingexpressions:

.
Theseexpressionsarecomparedinthelinkedtableandfigure.

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