Abstract
Flexible or elastically supported cylinders (using the term in its more general sense to include bodies of any constant sectional shape, with a straight line axis) evince tendencies to oscillate when placed across an airstream.
If oscillations are constrained to one degree of freedom about an axis parallel to the cylinder axis, stability can be predicted from the steady aerodynamic properties of the sectional shape of the cylinder, but only if the axis is remote and for conditions in which vortex shedding is absent. The best-known example of this is the criterion of den Hartog for pure plunging oscillations. This criterion is readily extended to the case of an axis remote in any direction; but for cases in which the axis is near, so that angular motion becomes appreciable, it is generally considered that non-oscillatory properties do not give a guide to stability.
A theory for this case is developed for a thin flat plate, fully stalled, and its results are shown experimentally to be applicable to a range of section shapes, enabling stability to be assessed from simple measurements of the wake under steady conditions.
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