Effects of stacking sequence on thermal flutter speed of composite panel

A step-by-step method for thermal flutter analysis of laminated composite panel is proposed. In this method, the thermal induced additional stiffness is obtained at first and then it is introduced into the governing equation of panel flutter. The flutter characteristics of a clamped panel with even temperature elevation are analyzed by this approach, the flutter boundary is obtained and compared with existing example by a maximum relative error of 3%. Then the finite element model for a panel of hypersonic vehicle is built, and the effect of stacking sequence on the thermal flutter speed of the laminated composite panel with even elevated temperature is studied. The results show that the laminate orientations and stacking sequence have a significant effect on the thermal flutter speed of the panel both with and without thermal load. It is also found that the flutter speed is sensitive to the temperature elevation and varies approximately linear with the temperature elevation while the coupling modes are kept unchanged.