Bifurcation of the curved panel in supersonic air flow

An investigation on bifurcation of the curved panel in supersonic air flow is performed in this paper. The nonlinear aeroelastic model for a two-dimensional cylindrically curved panel with constant stream-wise curvature is built in supersonic air flow and elevated temperature environment. The vonKarman's large deflection plate theory, the quasi-steady first-order piston theory and the quasi-steady temperature distribution are used in the formulation. The Galerkin's method has been used to discrete the mathematical model into a set of coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations. Then these equations are studied by using theories of static bifurcation and Hopf bifurcation. The results show that at different combinations of control parameters such as dynamic pressure, temperature elevation and height-rise of cylindrically curved panel, different static equilibrium positions may exist. And there are two different mechanisms for the instability onset of the curved panel.