Nonlinear Limit Cycle Oscillation and Flutter Analysis of Clamped Curved Plates

Abstract

This Paper studies the instability (flutter) and poststability limit cycle oscillations of elastic shallow shells in a supersonic gas flow. In a previous paper by the authors, a nonlinear dynamic aeroelastic analysis of streamwise square curved plates was made to compare with the experimental results of Anderson. In the present Paper, computational results are presented for a much larger range of several parameters, which are important for flutter and limit cycle oscillations including both spanwise and streamwise curved plates with various aspect ratios, various boundary conditions, and the effects of static pressure and in-plane mechanical loadings. No previous study has included such a wide range of parameters and parameter values. Von Kármán shallow shell theory, a modal expansion along with the Galerkin method, and the piston theory aerodynamic model for supersonic/hypersonic flow are employed to obtain these results.