Abstract
A simply supported plate fluttering in hypersonic flow is investigated considering both the airflow and structural nonlinearities. Third-order piston theory is used for nonlinear aerodynamic loading, and von Karman plate theory is used for modeling the nonlinear strain-displacement relation. The Galerkin method is applied to project the partial differential governing equations (PDEs) into a set of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) in time, which is then solved by numerical integration method. In observation of limit cycle oscillations (LCO) and evolution of dynamic behaviors, nonlinear aerodynamic loading produces a smaller positive deflection peak and more complex bifurcation diagrams compared with linear aerodynamics. Moreover, a LCO obtained with the linear aerodynamics is mostly a nonsimple harmonic motion but when the aerodynamic nonlinearity is considered more complex motions are obtained, which is important in the evaluation of fatigue life. The parameters of Mach number, dynamic pressure, and in-plane thermal stresses all affect the aerodynamic nonlinearity. For a specific Mach number, there is a critical dynamic pressure beyond which the aerodynamic nonlinearity has to be considered. For a higher temperature, a lower critical dynamic pressure is required. Each nonlinear aerodynamic term in the full third-order piston theory is evaluated, based on which the nonlinear aerodynamic formulation has been simplified.
Highlights
With the increase of the flight speed of modern flight vehicles, panel flutter, a localized aeroelastic problem representing a small portion of the skin on the surface of hypersonic vehicles, is attracting more and more attentions
The physical phenomenon is truly where the panel oscillates in a complex motion like quasiperiodic or chaos instead of a simple harmonic oscillation, which is due to the higher nonlinear aerodynamics with 3rdorder piston theory under high Mach number
The present study evaluates the aerodynamic nonlinearity by comparing the third-order piston theory with the first-order piston theory
Summary
With the increase of the flight speed of modern flight vehicles, panel flutter, a localized aeroelastic problem representing a small portion of the skin on the surface of hypersonic vehicles, is attracting more and more attentions. Many researches have been done in the analysis of panel flutter in supersonic flow (Ma < 5) using the linear aerodynamic theory such as the first-order piston theory [1,2,3,4,5] or linearized potential flow theory [6,7,8]. Carrera and his coworkers applied a finite element structural model coupling with first-order piston theory for aerodynamic model to calculate the flutter boundaries of curved panels [9] and versatile thermal insulation (VTI) panels with pinched boundary conditions [10, 11]. Using the finite element method, Gray and his coworkers [18, 19] presented the large-amplitude LCO with the full third-order piston theory to assess the influence of aerodynamic nonlinearity on the hypersonic panel flutter
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