Panel flutter suppression using adaptive material actuators

Abstract

Piezoelectrics and shape memory alloys may be used as integrated actuators to control supersonic flutter of flat panels because panel strain and stiffness can be actively controlled. This article uses a Rayleigh Ritz panel flutter model to analyze the effectiveness of integrated segmented actuators to control panel bending deformation and in-plane forces, and increase the flutter speed of the panels. A non dimensional parameter for actuator effectiveness is presented to help evaluate the effectiveness of different materials and their placement in the panel