Force/moment partitioning applied to particle image velocimetry data for a pitching wing

We analyze PIV data of a pitching wing in a mean flow to quantitatively describe the vortex dynamics and fluid-structure interactions acting as the wing experiences a vortex-dominated aeroelastic instability. A physics-based force/moment partitioning method (FMPM) is employed to estimate the moments and forces from the time varying velocity fields. Using this method, we are able to evaluate the contributions of different components to the total forces and moments, including the effects of vortices, viscous stresses, added mass, potential flow and the outer boundary (confinement). We compare the estimates with the measured forces and assess the errors due to three-dimensionality of the flow, turbulent flow fluctuations, and limited experimental resolution.