Nonlinear analysis of dynamic stability for the thin cylindrical shells of supercavitating vehicles

Abstract

The dynamic stability of supercavitating vehicles under periodic axial loading is investigated in this article. The supercavitating vehicle is simulated as a long and thin cylindrical shell subjected to periodic axial loading and simply supported boundary conditions. The nonlinear transverse vibration differential equation is obtained in terms of nonlinear geometric equations, physical equations, and balance equations of cylindrical shells. Mathieu equation with periodic coefficients and nonlinear term is derived by employing Galerkin variational method and Bolotin method. The analytical expressions of the steady-state amplitudes of vibrations in the first- and second-order instable regions are obtained by solving nonlinear Mathieu equation derived in this article. Numerical results are presented to analyze the influence of the sailing speed, ratio of loads, the frequency of axial loads, and the mode of vibration on parametric resonance curves and to show the nonlinear parametric resonance curves incline toward the side where it is greater than the excitation frequency, which significantly extends the range of the exciting region. The presented results indicate the enlargement of the exciting region will cause shrinkage of the safe frequency range of external loads and decrease in dynamic stability of supercavitating vehicle.