Aeroelastic effect on modal interaction and dynamic behavior of acoustically excited metallic panels

This paper details the study of the aeroelastic effect on modal interaction and dynamic behavior of acoustically excited square metallic panels with fully clamped edges using finite element method. The first-order shear deformation plate theory and von Karman nonlinear strain–displacement relationships are employed to consider the structural geometric nonlinearity caused by large vibration deflections. Piston aerodynamic theory and Gaussian white noise are used to simulate the aerodynamic load and the acoustic load, respectively. Motion equations are derived by the principle of virtual work in the physical coordinates and then transformed into the truncated modal coordinates with reduced orders. Runge–Kutta method is employed to obtain the system response, and the modal interaction mechanism is quantitatively valued by the modal participation distribution. Results show that in the pre-/near-flutter regions, in addition to the dominant fundamental resonant mode, the first twin companion antisymmetric modes can be largely excited by the aeroelastic coupling mechanism; thus, aeroelastic modal participation distribution and the spectrum response can be altered, while the dynamic behavior still exhibits linear random vibrations. In the post-flutter region, the dominant flutter motion can be enriched by highly ordered odd order super-harmonic motion occurs due to 1:1 internal resonances. Correspondingly, the panel dynamic behavior changes from random vibration to highly ordered motions in the fashion of diffused limit-cycle oscillations (LCOs). However, this LCOs motion can be affected by the intensifying acoustic excitation through changing the aeroelastic modal interaction mechanism. Accompanied with these changes, the panel can experience various stochastic bifurcations.