Supersonic Flutter of Laminated Curved Panels

Abstract

Supersonic flutter analysis of laminated composite curved panels is investigated using doubly-curved, quadrilateral, shear flexible, shell element based on field-consistency approach. The formulation includes transverse shear deformation, in-plane and rotary inertias. The aerodynamic force is evaluated using two-dimensional static aerodynamic approximation for high supersonic flow. Initially, the model developed here is verified for the flutter analysis of flat plates. Numerical results are presented for isotropic, orthotropic and laminated anisotropic curved panels. A detailed parametric study is carried out to observe the effects of aspect and thickness ratios, number of layers, lamination scheme, and boundary conditions on flutter boundary.